MECHANICAL 
SCIENCE  IN 
EDUCATION 


SELDEN 


WORKS  OF 
Frank  Henry  Selden 

Cloth  bound.  Fully  illustrated. 
Woodwork  for  Grades  $1.00 
Elementary  Woodwork  1.00 
Elementary  Turning  1.00 

Elementary  Cabinetwork  1.00 
Elementary  Drawing,  138p.  0.75 
Wood  Finishing  0.35 

Mechanical  Sci.  Methods.    1.00 
Part  One  only  0.60 

Suggestive  Courses  .35 

Mechanical  Science  in  Educa- 
tion, with  portrait  1.00 


MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 
IN  EDUCATION 


BY 


FRANK  HENRY  SELDEN 

AUTHOR  OF  THE 

MECHANICAL  SCIENCE  SERIES 


The  Maudsfay  Press 

VALLEY  CITY,  N.  DAK.  CRANESVILLE,  PENN. 


COPYRIGHTED  IN  1909-10  BY 

WILLIAM  GEORGE  BRUCE 

COPYRIGHTED  IN  1920  BY 

FRANK  HENRY  SELDEN 

ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


PREFACE 

Beginning  in  1909  the  author  wrote  several  ar- 
ticles for  "The  American  School  Board  Journal." 
In  1910  six  of  these  articles,  all  that  had  been  pub- 
lished at  that  time,  were  republished  in  a  small  book 
entitled  "Manual  Training."  The  edition  of  the 
early  reprint  being  exhausted,  the  author  secured 
permission  from  Mr.  William  George  Bruce  to  re- 
print the  entire  series: and,  therefore,  acknowledg- 
ment is  due  Mr.  Bruce  personally  and  the  publish- 
ers of  "The  American  School  Board  Journal"  for 
this  opportunity  of  bringing  these  several  articles  to- 
gether in  convenient  form. 

The  change  of  title  is  due  to  the  growth  of  the 
Mechanical  Science  work.  Today  this  system  is 
definitely  established  with  well  defined  character- 
istics that  differentiate  it  from  all  other  systems  of 
school  shopwork  or  schemes  of  industrial  education 
for  either  public  or  private  schools.  That  it  should 
bear  a  name  readily  expressing  its  individuality 
and  character  is  too  evident  to  require  comment. 

That  this  system  of  school  shopwork  deserves 
the  most  careful  consideration  by  all  friends  of  edu- 
cation may  be  argued  both  from  the  results  obtained 

460199 


4  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

in  educational  and  industrial  values,  and  because  of 
the  most  emphatic  approval  of  subject  matter  and 
methods  of  instruction  by  every  educator  who 
has  become  familiar  with  this  system. 

That  this  work  is  based  upon  great  fundamental 
principles  rather  than  a  personality  is  proven  beyond 
dispute  by  the  unusual  success  of  this  system  when 
taught  by  teachers  of  greatly  varying  temperaments 
and  personalities.  To  so  great  an  extent  has  the 
success  of  the  work  been  demonstrated  that  any 
school  may  be  certain  of  obtaining  similar  results  if 
a  fairly  well  qualified  teacher  of  Mechanical  Science 
is  employed  and  given  a  reasonable  opportunity. 
In  this  connection  it  seems  necessary  to  caution 
those  wishing  to  investigate  or  adopt  this  system  to 
be  sure  that  they  are  not  deceived  in  regard  to  the 
schools  they  visit  or  teachers  whom  they  employ. 
The  safe  way  is  to  correspond  directly  with  the  pub- 
lishers of  the  Mechanical  Science  texts  whose  every 
interest  is  to  secure  a  complete  and  impartial  in- 
vestigation and  to  provide  teachers  who  can  be  de- 
pended upon  to  use  correct  methods  of  instruction. 

The  articles  reprinted  in  this  volume  do  not 
give  the  elaborate  and  connected  treatment  of  this 
subject  that  one  might  reasonably  expect  to  find  in  a 
book  especially  prepared  for  that  purpose.  They 
do,  however,  state  with  reasonable  clearness  the 
author's  views  and  the  fundamental  principles  on 
which  this  system  is  based.  Those  who  wish  a 


IN    EDUCATION  5 

more  detailed  statement  of  the  system  should  con- 
sult the  texts  and  other  publications  by  the  same 
author.  For  a  complete  view  of  the  arrangement  of 
problems  with  reasons  for  the  particular  work  of 
each  grade  the  book  "SUGGESTIVE  COURSES  IN 
MECHANICAL  SCIENCE"  should  be  consulted.  Spe- 
cial class  room  methods  are  given  in  considerable 
detail  in  "MECHANICAL  SCIENCE  METHODS." 

To  the  articles  as  originally  published  some  ex- 
planations and  additions  have  been  added.  These 
are  enclosed  in  brackets.  In  most  cases  the  terms 
"manual  training"  and  "mechanical  science"  have 
been  retained  as  used  in  the  original  publications. 

Discussions  which  have  come  to  the  notice  of 
this  author  suggest  the  necessity  of  emphasizing  the 
fact  that  Mechanical  Science  is  not  a  group  of  se- 
lected tool  processes  of  general  utility.  Mechanical 
"hash"  is  of  no  more  value  than  mathematical 
"hash"  or  indiscriminate  pickings  from  any  other 
science. 

We  ought  also  to  keep  in  mind  that  Mechanical 
Science  is  not  a  selection  of  "fundamental  tool 
processes,"  a  phrase  now  used  by  some  in  discuss- 
ing industrial  education.  If  there  are  fundamental 
principles  then  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  funda- 
mental tool  processes;  because  the  very  nature  of 
a  principle  requires  a  possibility  of  its  application 
in  a  variety  of  processes  and  hence  no  one  process 
can  be  fundamental  in  that  group.  As  all  groups  of 


6  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

processes  must  depend  upon  fundamental  princi- 
ples, then  no  group  or  any  process  of  any  group  can 
be  considered  fundamental.  Processes  are  the  mul- 
tiplicity of  applications  of  principles.  It  is  the 
principles  that  are  fundamental  and  therefore  com- 
paratively few  in  number,  and  because  of  being 
limited  in  number  are  capable  of  being  learned  and 
understood  by  a  reasonable  course  of  study  in  the 
science.  Processes  are  infinite  in  number  and, 
therefore,  to  attempt  to  become  proficient  in  their 
use  by  a  rote  learning  of  them  is  an  endless  task  and 
may  result  in  a  total  failure  to  accomplish  some 
simple  piece  of  work  because  the  particular  process 
required  has  not  been  learned  altho  many  other 
processes  have  been  mastered. 

The  inability  of  the  one  who  has  simply  learned 
tool  processes  to  adapt  himself  to  modern  industrial 
requirements  is  the  cause  of  the  abandonment  of 
the  apprenticeship  system.  The  employer  learned 
by  experience  that  the  seven  years  consumed  in 
training  a  workman  in  processes  did  not  yield  a 
sufficient  return  for  the  cost  of  instruction.  The 
student  of  Mechanical  Science  learns  the  funda- 
mental principles  by  the  use  of  properly  seleet3d 
studies,  learns  to  apply  them  in  the  devising  of 
processes  for  selected  tasks  and  thereby  becomes 
able  to  originate  tool  processes  to  fit  new  require- 
ments. In  practical  industrial  employment  we  call 
the  workman  who  has  this  knowledge  of  principles 


IN  EDUCATION  7 

an  adaptable  workman.  He  is  really  a  scientist  and 
if  a  master  of  the  science,  is  substantially  unlimited 
in  the  variety  of  work  he  can  accomplish. 

At  the  present  time  most  of  the  school  shopwork 
is  the  teaching  of  processes,  sometimes  with  good 
workmanship  resulting  and  sometimes  not,  but  in 
either  case  the  value  of  the  instruction  to  the  pupil 
and  the  community  is  very  slight  and  sometimes, 
possibly  often,  of  a  serious  negative  value. 

Such  instruction  is  sustained  not  by  its  value 
but  by  those  students  of  a  strong  scientific  type  of 
mind  who  get  some  of  the  science  in  spite  of  the 
tendency  of  the  instruction.  The  Mechanical  Sci- 
ence work  differs  from  these  other  systems  in  that 
it  recognizes  that  there  is  a  science  of  working  solid 
materials  and  strives  definitely  to  teach  it  by  the 
use  of  suitable  subject  matter. 

These  articles,  written  in  1909,  took  what  was 
then  an  advanced  position  in  regard  to  fitting 
pupils  to  enter  with  success  any  one  of  a  variety 
of  occupations  without  any  special  training  for 
any  one  occupation.  Since  then  the  actual  expe- 
riences of  those  who  have  entered  upon  various 
lines  of  industrial  activities  after  a  more  or  less 
extended  training  in  Mechanical  Science  have  con- 
firmed this  theory  beyond  any  probability  of  error. 
These  pupils  have  established  records  of  indus- 
trial efficiency  and  success  beyond  that  which  the 
author  expected,  and  greatly  in  excess  of  what  is 


8  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

necessary  to  establish  this  theory.  The  greatest 
need  in  educational  work  today  is  not  more  theories 
in  regard  to  what  ought  to  be  done  but  more 
careful  inquiry  in  regard  to  what  is  actually  being 
accomplished  by  some  schools. 

The  fact  should  not  be  overlooked  that  there  is 
not  one  bit  of  evidence  from  any  source  that  can 
be  placed  against  this  system  of  school  shop  work. 
The  fact  that  pupils  from  schools  having  practically 
unlimited  resources  in  equipment  and  salaries  have 
not  shown  this  adaptability  cannot  be  used  against 
this  system,  for  equipment  and  salaries  do  not,  at 
this  time,  guarantee  the  teaching  of  the  science. 
A  thoro  investigation  will  show  that  some  of  the 
largest  and  most  expensively  conducted  manual 
training  schools  or  industrial  arts  schools  are  giving 
the  poorest  instruction  as  estimated  from  the 
standpoint  of  teaching  the  science. 


CONTENTS 

Preface 3 

Manual  Training  a  Science 11 

The  Subject  Matter  of  Manual  Training 19 

The  Attitude  of  Pupils 25 

Manual  Training  and  Industry 33 

Methods  of  Instruction 45 

Our  Duty  Toward  the  Manual 

Training  Movement 59 

German  Schools  and  Our  Problem 71 

What  is  a  Liberal  Education 99 

Problems  in  the  Successful  Teaching 

of  Mechanical  Science .  . 127 

Manual  Training  Equipment 139 


Manual  Training 
a  Science 


It  is  natural  for  us,  when  the  country  is  stirred 
by  some  new  movement,  to  look  for  the  cause.  To 
find  the  cause  and  recognize  it  is  not  always  an  easy 
matter.  It  is  usually  found  in  a  combination  of 
conditions  that  differ  in  their  relations  from  those 
ordinarily  existing,  and  therefore  requires  a  point  of 
view  difficult  to  assume  by  those  not  thoroly  ex- 
perienced in  the  new  field  of  observation.  That  the 
introduction  of  tool  work  into  the  common  schools 
has  brought  under  observation  a  line  of  work  re- 
quiring a  point  of  view  not  easily  gained  by  those 
accustomed  to  pass  judgment  upon  our  school  work 
is  easily  believed  because  of  the  greatly  varying 
opinions  and  suggestions  which  are  given  out  as  a 
result  of  those  observations.  It  does  not  seem 
probable  that  in  this  new  line  of  work  there  is  no 
basis  on  which  a  definite  theory  can  be  placed.  The 
present  difficulty  appears  to  be  the  all  but  universal 
difficulty  of  those  long  accustomed  to  a  certain  line 
of  investigation  failing  to  grasp  the  whole  body  of 
facts  bearing  upon  the  new  situation. 


12  *  M'ECHANiCAL-  SCIENCE 

*•  •»*••**•»*•'*.*    •  .\  * 

A  Paradox 

So  universal  is  the  necessity  for  a  new  point  of 
observation  in  the  proper  study  and  an  intelligent 
discussion  of  great  advances  in  civilization  that, 
however  paradoxical  this  may  seem,  it  is,  never- 
theless, apt  to  be  true  that  those  having  the  most  ex- 
tensive training  for  the  purpose  of  observing  and 
judging  of  sociological  conditions  are  unable  to  give 
to  the  community  a  full  and  correct  statement  of 
the  value  of  any  radically  new  movement  in  society. 
The  work  of  the  trained  investigator  appears  to  be 
to  refine  and  diffuse  after  the  radical  changes  have 
produced  a  sufficient  body  of  material  to  make  pos- 
sible a  new  point  of  observation. 

In  no  line  of  modern  development  is  this  more 
noticeable  than  in  the  movement  for  a  department 
of  school  work  capable  of  giving  a  larger  value  for 
those  whose  life's  work  is  to  be  spent  in  some  line  of 
industry.  If  we  will  pause  to  consider  what  the 
new  material  is  that  is  of  necessity  being  brought 
into  our  schools  as  a  result  of  this  demand,  we  will 
have  no  reason  to  question  this  statement. 

Lack  of  Information 

Turn  to  any  discussion  of  industrial  education 
by  those  considered  best  able  to  lead  in  educational 


IN  EDUCATION  13 

investigation  and  we  find  the  point  of  view  sub- 
stantially the  same.  Trained  to  a  degree  that 
should  give  them  large  confidence  in  their  powers, 
rightly  credited  by  all  with  a  breadth  of  learning, 
strong  in  power  to  think  out  to  infinitesimal  distinc- 
tions along  lines  with  which  they  are  familiar,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  they  do  not  realize,  nor  should 
we  censure  them  for  not  realizing,  that  they  have 
lived  and  thought  apart  from  a  vast  body  of  learning 
which  is  capable  of  supplying  material  for  not  only 
an  education  for  industry,  but  also  material  for 
liberal  culture. 

To  those  that  have  lived  long  in  the  realm  of 
books,  without  dealing  with  any  line  of  thought  to 
be  tested  out  by  actual  working  of  solid  materials, 
there  is  another  world  about  them  unseen  and  un- 
felt,  and  neither  considered  in  their  observations 
and  search  for  the  cause  of  present  unrest,  nor  in 
shaping  their  plans  for  the  uplift  of  the  industrial 
classes. 

To  make  this  other  world  real  to  those  who  hold 
in  their  hands  the  destiny  of  education  is  the  burden 
of  those  who  live  in  this  other  world,  and  whose 
lives  have  been  such  as  to  give  them  a  view  of  the 
intellectual  side  of  modern  industry. 


14  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 


Learning  by  Thinking 

"We  learn  to  do  by  doing,"  said  by  some  one, 
and  quoted  by  the  millions,  has  so  impressed  itself 
upon  this  generation  as  to  be  taken  as  a  fact,  tho,  as 
ordinarily  interpreted,  it  is  little  else  than  fiction. 

For  untold  centuries  the  world  progressed,  if  we 
can  call  that  slow  and  tedious  advance  in  mechanical 
work  progression,  by  doing;  and,  had  not  the  in- 
creasing necessities  of  the  increased  density  of  popu- 
lation and  the  comparing  of  methods  as  a  result  of 
the  intermingling  of  nationalities  caused  a  change 
from  the  learning  to  do  by  doing  to  the  learning  to 
do  by  thinking,  we  would  yet  be  using  the  mechan- 
ical appliances  of  medieval  civilization.  From  the 
doing  and  doing  over  and  over  to  get  the  " knack" 
or  learn  to  imitate,  the  industrial  advance  has  led  to 
the  thinking  out  of  principles  making  the  doing  not 
the  learning,  but  the  test  of  the  thinking  which  has 
preceded.  This  gives  a  foundation  for  growth ;  for 
there  is  no  limit  to  the  mind's  activity.  The  hand- 
ing down  from  generation  to  generation  of  tool 
processes  or  trade  maniuplations  gradually  ceases  to 
be  a  factor  and  more  and  more  each  generation  fits 
for  work  by  the  applying  of  principles,  disregarding 
the  details  of  imitation.  This  gives  freedom  and 
the  era  of  invention  is  a  necessary  consequence.  No 
child  feels  obliged  to  do  just  as  his  parent  did.  Ho 


IN  EDUCATION  15 

has  learned  a  principle  on  which  the  operation  or 
process  is  based  and  feels  free  to  make  use  of  any 
muscular  movement  that  does  not  do  violence  to  the 
principle.  The  working  out  of  these  principles  also 
eliminates  many  operations  of  the  ancient  crafts- 
man because  they  are  not  in  harmony  with  es- 
tablished law. 

Source  of  Progress 

The  development  of  the  science  of  working  solid 
materials  not  only  gives  freedom  to  use  a  large  va- 
riety of  processes  or  methods,  but  also  is  quite  as 
useful  in  eliminating  many  methods  of  work  which 
have  come  down  to  us  by  rule  of  thumb  or  blind 
imitation,  and  which  are  neither  efficient  nor  in- 
tellectual. 

This  not  only  leads  to  progress  in  industry,  but 
also  to  the  building  up  of  an  intellectual  side  to  in- 
dustrial work.  It  is  because  of  this  change  from 
imitative  methods  to  those  resulting  from  a  study  of 
the  underlying  principles  of  industrial  work  that 
modern  industry  has  made  so  rapid  an  advance,  has 
become  so  intensive,  and  has  made  the  better  classes 
of  workmen  intelligent  members  of  society.  It  is 
this  side  of  the  work  that  gives  to  it  its  place  in  the 
schools,  and  it  is  the  failing  to  recognize  this  that 
makes  the  present  discussion  of  manual  training 
lead  into  so  many  vagaries  and  the  work  of  so  many 


16  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

schools  fail  to  produce  the  desired  results  in  the  in- 
dustrial efficiency  of  their  pupils. 

Why  They  Fail 

Observing  the  physical  side  of  the  work,  and  not 
having  gone  deeply  into  the  study  of  the  science  un- 
derlying industrial  pursuits,  those  who  are  in  a 
position  to  do  much  good  fail  to  give  material  aid 
because  from  their  position  of  observation  they  are 
unable  to  see  that  there  is  a  science  underlying  the 
working  of  solid  materials,  a  science  which,  tho  in 
its  first  stages  of  development,  is  yet  sufficiently  well 
defined  to  supply  the  material  for  our  school  shops, 
or  that  part  of  our  school  work  leading  to  the  in- 
dustries. 

When  this  fact  is  realized  and  we  proceed  to 
base  our  school  shop  work  on  science  instead  of  tool 
processes,  history,  art,  or  what-not,  there  will  be  no 
call  for  specialization  in  the  grades,  and  possibly  not 
in  the  high  school,  nor  will  there  be  any  need  to 
separate  those  expecting  to  enter  industrial  lines 
from  those  fitting  for  the  professions,  because  the 
study  of  the  science  of  working  solid  materials  is 
quite  as  valuable  a  part  of  a  liberal  education  as  the 
study  of  any  other  science.  Nor  will  there  be  any 
necessity  for  the  introduction  of  matter  foreign  to 
the  study  of  this  science  to  give  either  interest  or 
cultural  value.  All  attempts  to  make  of  the  school 


IN  EDUCAITON  17 

shop  a  study  of  things  other  than  the  science  of 
working  solid  materials  are  abortive  and  an  ac- 
knowledgment that  the  real  subject  matter  has  been 
overlooked. 


Our  Duty 

Our  present  duty  is  to  all  pull  together  to  gather 
the  necessary  material  for  the  thoro  establishing  of 
this  science,  to  eliminate  the  unscientific,  the  work 
that  is  based  upon  imitation,  and  the  work  that 
leads  only  to  disconnected  facts  or  details,  to  try 
thoroly  each  statement  of  principle  as  to  its  truth, 
and  then  as  to  its  use  as  a  part  of  a  broad  foundation 
for  industrial  work. 

By  pursuing  this  course  we  can  soon  have  such  a 
valuable  science  as  a  basis  for  all  industrial  lines  that 
the  pupil  on  leaving  school,  will  be  as  reasonably  as- 
sured of  success  in  any  industry  as  he  now  is  in 
other  lines.  He  will  not  only  be  free  to  enter  any 
one  of  many  occupations,  but  also  will  have  a 
breadth  of  foundation  that  will  serve  him  well  in 
case  at  some  time  circumstances  necessitate  his 
changing  from  his  chosen  line  to  a  widely  differing 
one. 

Viewed  as  a  part  of  a  liberal  education,  manual 
training  is  that  branch  of  school  work  in  which  the 
menial  activity  of  the  pupil  is  tested  by  work  upon 
solid  materials. 


The  Subject  Matter  of 
Manual  Training 


To  know  that  manual  training  is  a  science  is  but 
the  beginning  olf  rthe  work  necessary  to  its  establish- 
ing as  a  part  of  our  school  work.  Those  who  are 
familiar  with  the  history  of  the  introduction  and  de- 
velopment of  mathematics,  physics  and  chemistry 
as  parts  of  our  school  course  have  a  basis  for  com- 
parison in  anticipating  the  nature  of  the  task  before 
those  working  for  a  rational  course  in  manual  train- 
ing, or  mechanical  science.  The  latter  term  seems 
to  indicate  very  clearly  the  nature  of  this  division  of 
educational  work,  and  I  think  we  may  use  it  until  a 
better  name  is  found. 


Apparatus  and  Principles 

The  first  and  obvious  conclusion  after  we  learn 
that  it  is  a  science  is  that  this  material  is  in  the 
realm  of  law  or  principle  rather  than  in  physical 
form.  Altho,  like  physics,  mechanical  science  re- 
quires for  its  convenient  study  a  quantity  of  ap- 
paratus, yet,  like  physics,  this  apparatus  is  not  the 


20  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

science,  but  the  means  of  demonstrating  it.  The 
bench,  the  lathe,  the  chisel,  plane,  and  saw  are  not 
implements  to  be  manipulated  for  the  purpose  of  the 
manipulation;  but  pieces  of  apparatus  to  be  used  in 
certain  definite  ways,  so  that  a  law  or  principle  may 
be  learned  or  demonstrated.  The  work  of  the  shop 
is  not  to  learn  a  series  of  physical  movements,  but  to 
make  use  of  certain  carefully  selected  movements  in 
order  to  learn  fundamental  principles  that  may  be 
used  in  the  determining  of  a  variety  of  movements. 
The  inclined  plane  and  balls  in  the  physics 
laboratory  are  not  for  the  purpose  of  giving  skill  in 
rolling  balls,  but  to  afford  an  opportunity  to  roll 
balls  in  such  a  way  as  to  demonstrate  the  laws  of 
falling  bodies.  One  who  has  no  knowledge  of  the 
physical  sciences  might  roll  balls  all  his  days,  even 
until  he  became  more  skilled  in  handling  them  than 
the  student  or  teacher  of  physics :  and  yet  never  even 
so  much  as  surmise  that  there  are  any  laws  of  falling 
bodies.  In  like  manner  the  imitative  mechanic  may 
use  the  tools  of  the  trades  all  his  life  and  never  dis- 
cover that  there  are  any  scientific  principles  in  or 
back  of  these  movements  of  tools.  In  fact,  a  care- 
ful scrutiny  of  men  at  work  will  reveal  that  herein 
lies  a  great  deal  of  the  difference  between  workmen, 
one  working  blindly  to  "get  the  knack,"  to  practice 
until  he  "catches  on/'  to  "keep  trying  until  he  gets 
it,"  to  "develop  skill"  and  the  other  working  thought- 
fully, making  use  of  such  principles  as  he  has  been 


IN  EDUCATION  21 

able  to  discover.  It  is  the  principles  worked  out  by 
individual  workmen  and  tben  gathered  into  a  course 
that  give  a  basis  for  our  manual  training  or  me- 
chanical science  work,  just  as  the  gathering  together 
of  the  laws  worked  out  by  various  students  of 
natural  philosophy  has  given  us  the  science  of 
physics. 

The  Selection  of  Materials 

The  gathering  together  of  this  more  or  less  crude 
material  is  but  the  start  in  getting  the  subject  mat- 
ter for  a  school  course  in  mechanical  science.  To 
yield  a  proper  return  for  time  and  effort  and  the 
large  expense  usually  incident  to  the  teaching  of 
shop  work  the  material  must  be  thoroly  sifted, 
classified  and  worked  over  to  yield  the  largest  pos- 
sible value  for  the  outlay.  This  process  of  elimin- 
ation and  refining  has  no  limit  so  long  as  the  race 
progresses,  and  therefore  our  subject  matter  can  not 
become  a  fixed  quantity.  All  we  can  do  is  to  be 
certain  that  we  have  the  best  obtainable  at  the  pres- 
ent time. 

This  naturally  leads  us  to  surmise  that  certain 
lines  of  mechanical  work  will  yield  better  material 
than  others,  because  some  lines  have  received  a 
larger  amount  of  intellectual  effort.  I  think  ob- 
servation bears  out  this  suspicion,  and  that  a  thoro 
study  of  modern  industries  will  convince  us  that 


22  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

some  occupations  are  much  farther  advanced  than 
others;  that  some  are  well  established  on  scientific 
principles,  while  others  are  yet  in  the  stage  of  crafts- 
manship. Therefore  ,we  must  find  our  subject  mat- 
ter in  those  industries  that  are  highly  developed,  or, 
in  other  words,  those  industries  that  have  a  basis  in 
scientific  tool  usage  rather  than  in  imitative  process- 
es or  craftsmanship. 

Eliminating  the  Unscientific 

But  this  is  not  all.  In  the  present  state  of  de- 
velopment no  industry  is  entirely  scientific,  nor  is 
any  modern  industry  entirely  lacking  in  scientific 
principles.  It  is  therefore  a  most  difficult  task  and  a 
matter  of  the  most  serious  importance,  after  we  have 
determined  what  lines  of  work  to  make  use  of  in  our 
schools,  to  select  from  each  line  or  trade  that  which 
is  scientific  and  eliminate  that  which  is  not. 

To  introduce  woodwork  or  any  other  of  the  high- 
ly developed  occupations  may  mean  the  study  of 
scientific  principles  of  large  application  and  great 
value;  or  it  may  mean  simply  the  making  of  a  few 
articles  and  the  establishing  of  habits  of  work  that 
will  hinder  rather  than  help,  should  the  pupil  at- 
tempt work  in  any  industry. 

Our  subject  matter  cannot  be  selected  by  trades 
or  groups,  but  must  be  determined  by  a  rigid  test  to 
exclude  that  which  is  not  scientific.  Even  after  \ve 


IN  EDUCATION  23 

have  found  that  part  which  is  scientific  we  have  not 
done  all  possible,  for  even  then  there  is  opportunity 
for  choice.  Some  of  the  principles  may  be  of  larger 
value  than  others,  and  if  we  will  do  that  which  is 
best  we  must  make  use  of  those  things  of  largest 
value. 

Universality  of  Principles 

In  our  study  to  determine  those  principles  of 
largest  value  we  discover  that  many  of  the  prin- 
ciples are  not  confined  in  their  application  to  any 
one  trade  or  occupation,  but  that  they  are  of  such 
broad  application  that  when  learned  in  one  material 
they  are  easily  applied  to  other  materials,  even  with- 
out any  study  in  school  of  the  other  material.  We 
find  that  altho  the  tools  and  appliances  used  in  the 
various  industries  differ  widely,  yet  the  principles 
governing  their  use  are  all  but  universal. 

This  relieves  our  school  shops  of  all  necessity  of 
specialization  or  the  use  of  detailed  subject  matter 
of  special  trades  until  these  general  principles  have 
been  learned.  Such  a  division  of  the  work  is  not 
only  unnecessary,  but  is  actually  injurious  to  both 
the  course  a'nd  the  pupil,  for  it  tends  to  place  in  the 
course  details  not  worth  the  time  to  learn  and  also  to 
rob  the  pupil  by  crowding  out  the  study  of  general 
principles  which  have  a  value  as  a  part  of  a  liberal 
education. 


24  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

Therefore  our  subject  matter  for  manual  training 
is  -that  part  of  the  knowledge  of  working  solid  ma- 
terials that  is  based  upon  scientific  principles  of  the 
largest  value,  and  the  work  of  our  school  shops  is  the 
doing  of  such  things  as  will  best  demonstrate  and 
teach  those  principles. 


The  Attitude  of  Pupils 


In  any  line  of  work,  either  in  school  or  out,  the 
attitude  of  the  worker  has  much  to  do  with  the  re- 
sult. Altho  this  may  be  of  no  more  consequence  in 
manual  training  than  in  other  branches,  so  greatly 
do  the  pupils  vary  in  their  reasons  for  taking  up  this 
work  and  in  their  attitude  towards  it,  that  the  mat- 
ter of  attitude  becomes  an  element  of  chief  impor- 
tance. It  not  only  has  much  to  do  with  the  methods 
of  instruction,  but  also  with  the  selection  of  ma- 
terial; the  position  of  the  branch  in  the  course  and 
its  rank  as  a  factor  of  a  liberal  education.  The 
attitude  of  the  pupil  may  determine  whether  the 
shop  work  is  a  part  of  a  well  organized  course  giving 
a  liberal  education  or  a  " patch  on  an  over-crowded 
curriculum." 

What  Should  He  Think  About? 

As  a  pupil  takes  up  his  plane  or  other  tool,  or  a 
bit  of  material,  what  should  he  be  thinking  about? 
This  may  appear  to  be  a  trivial  question.  The 
answers  to  it  vary  greatly  as  given  by  different  in- 
structors. One  pupil  receives  a  bit  of  wood  and  at 
once  a  vision  of  a  rule,  plant  stick,  or  other  object 


26  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

appears.  Another  pupil  receives  a  similar  piece 
and  at  once  the  word  "wood"  is  suggested.  This  is 
followed  by  visions  of  lumber  piles  and  perhaps 
trees.  Such  a  train  of  thought  may  continue  until 
the  pupil  is  day-dreaming  of  some  trip  to  the  woods. 
It  may  recall  the  pleasures  of  tree-climbing  until  the 
piece  of  material  in  his  hands,  tools,  bench  and 
school  shop  are  all  forgotten  and  he  is  mentally  in 
the  top  of  some  tree.  Another  pupil  with  his  piece 
of  wood  in  hand  thinks  neither  of  wood,  lumber, 
trees  or  plant  stick,  but  recalls  some  similar  task  and 
begins  to  plan  how  he  may  use  what  he  learned  in 
the  former  task  in  accomplishing  this  one.  I  ven- 
ture to  say  that  if  we  could  read  the  minds  of  ihe 
pupils  in  some  manual  training  classes,  we  would  find 
some  in  trees,  some  using  their  plant  sticks  in  flower 
gardens,  and  very  few,  if  any,  actually  engaged  in 
the  thoughtful  use  of  the  tools  required  to  make  the 
desired  piece. 

Are  these  the  correct  places  for  their  minds?  Are 
these  pupils,  whose  minds  are  away  from  the  bench, 
gaining  what  they  ought  from  the  work?  Perhaps 
some  will  hold  the  opinion  that  the  manual  training 
class  is  the  place  in  which  pupils  are  to  proceed  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth  while  their  hands  are  absent- 
mindedly  pushing  a  file  or  drawing  a  spoke  shave. 
If  this  is  the  proper  attitude,  then  what  is  the  actual 
value  of  the  tool  work?  Why  are  the  pupils  given 
tools  at  all? 


IN  EDUCATION  27 

Movements  Should  Be  Definitely  Directed 

The  merest  novice  in  physical  culture  would  not 
expect  to  get  results  worth  while  by  muscular  move- 
ments not  definitely  directed.  Can  we  expect  in 
the  work  shop  to  get  intellectual  results  from  such 
movements?  We  certainly  do  not  consider  a  move- 
ment of  the  hand  or  arm  definitely  directed,  when 
the  thought  is  only  to  get  something  done.  To  get 
something  done  may  lead  to  the  employment  of  an- 
other person  to  do  it.  The  boy  who  wants  a  plant 
stick  may  get  it  by  stealing,  buying  it  or  by  hiring 
some  one  to  make  it,  or  by  loafing  about  until  he  is 
given  one.  Any  of  these  methods  may  get  the  plant 
stick.  It  is  evident  that  if  he  is  to  make  the  stick, 
another  element  is  essential  and  that  element  is  the 
method  of  making ;  but  to  recognize  that  there  is  this 
other  step  is  not  all.  A  boy  may  want  the  object, 
recognize  that  work  is  necessary,  and  that  it  is  all  to 
a  good  purpose,  and  yet  fail  entirely  to  get  the  in- 
tellectual benefit  from  the  muscular  movements.  He 
must  go  a  step  further  and  recognize  the  fact  that 
there  is  a  definite  way  in  which  to  proceed,  and  that 
only  by  use  of  these  definite  methods  can  he  get  the 
best  results  in  grade  of  work  and  time.  There  is 
yet  another  step:  He  must  recognize  the  fact  that 
these  definite  things  are  essential  and  must  be 
learned,  not  gained  by  imitation.  They  must  be  to 
him  real  intellectual  activities,  not  muscular  move- 
ments copied  from  another.  They  must  be  things 


28  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

for  his  mind  to  do,  not  muscular  reactions  for  his 
hands  and  arms  only.  When  this  step  is  taken  the 
shop  work  ceases  to  be  so  largely  a  physical  activity, 
the  physical  side  being  akin  to  the  chalk,  blackboard 
and  muscular  part  of  working  a  problem  or  the  use 
of  apparatus  in  demonstrating  principles  in  the 
physics  laboratory. 


Every  Movement  a  Victory 

The  mind  is  no  longer  a  "'silent  partner"  in  the 
work,  but  is  actively  planning  and  directing  each 
movement;  it  ceases  to  look  for  operations  to  be 
imitated,  reasoning  out  from  what  has  been  learned, 
methods  applicable  to  the  present  task.  The  pupil 
ceases  to  ask  how,  rather  asking  why.  This  gives  to 
every  task  a  definite  intellectual  content,  rendering 
the  pupil  capable  of  taking  an  invoice  of  each  day's 
recitation,  and  instead  of  the  dead  subject  of  tool 
operations,  requiring  a  taboret  to  get  them  done, 
the  work  becomes  full  of  life.  Every  movement  of  a 
tool  is  a  victory  in  the  demonstrating  of  some  prin- 
ciple in  which  the  pupil  has  become  deeply  interest- 
ed. He  no  longer  thinks  of  the  object,  but  of  the 
thing  he  is  learning,  for  he  realizes  that  there  is 
something  to  learn  and  that  day  by  day  he  is  making 
definite  progress  and  gaining  in  ability  to  do  really 
difficult  work. 


IN  EDUCATION  29 


Desire  for  Power  a  Controlling  Force 

Emerson  tells  us,  "Life  is  a  search  after  power. " 
Altho  each  of  us  might  choose  to  express  this  idea  in 
a  different  form,  yet  we  all  recognize  that  the  great 
moving  force  in  all  human  activity  is  a  desire  for 
power,  not  the  use  of  power  to  oppress,  not  the  use 
of  power  to  plunder,  not  the  use  of  power  to  gather 
everything  into  one's  own  storehouses,  but  the  reali- 
zation of  power  within.  The  power  will  be  used  in 
different  ways  by  different  people  according  to  their 
moral  control,  or  training,  but  the  fundamental 
desire  for  a  realization  of  power  is  the  same  in  all. 

We  must  not  fail  to  distinguish  between  the  con- 
dition of  possessing  power  that  is  not  realized,  a  false 
belief  in  the  possession  of  power,  and  the  actual  pos- 
session of  power  which  is  fully  and  definitely  re- 
alized. Herein  lies  one  of  the  chief  values  of  shop 
work  when  properly  taught,  for  in  few,  if  in  any 
other  subjects,  is  it  possible  to  give  such  exact  tests 
for  the  purpose  of  causing  a  correct  estimation  and 
realization  of  the  pupil's  strength  and  growth  from 
day  to  day. 

Not  only  should  the  teacher  strive  to  gain  this 
attitude  on  the  part  of  the  pupil,  but  realizing  the 
harm  which  may  come  from  a  false  estimate  of  one's 
capabilities,  no  effort  should  be  spared  to  so  arrange 
the  work  that  a  true  estimate  will  be  gained.  A 


80  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

false  estimate  may  be  established  and  pupils  may  be 
made  to  believe  that  they  are  learning  and  accom- 
plishing that  which  is  building  them  up  in  power 
to  do  the  world's  work,  but  such  a  false  estimate  is 
sure  to  be  discovered  should  the  pupil  attempt  the 
practical  application  of  his  acquisitions. 

A  Change  in  Methods 

That  such  has  been  the  case  in  some  sections  is 
evident  from  the  reports  of  pupils  failing  to  "make 
good"  after  leaving  school.  This  has  caused  a 
change  in  the  courses  in  some  schools  with  a  change 
in  the  attitude  of  the  pupils.  The  impossibility  of 
continuing  to  gain  the  attitude  of  study,  because  of 
former  pupils  failing  to  use  usccessfully  their  school 
shop  training,  leads  to  various  expedients  to  con- 
tinue an  interest  which  has  lost  its  vitalizing  force 
and  the  shop  becomes  a  place  to  do  or  study  a  va- 
riety of  things  not  capable  of  the  exact  tests,  and 
knowledge  for  which  the  manual  training  schools 
were  originally  established. 

Let  Us  Acknowledge  Our  Failure 

Is  it  not  better  to  frankly  acknowledge  our 
failure  to  teach  correctly  the  things  we  have  at- 
tempted and  begin  sifting  and  improving  the  sub- 
ject matter  until  we  can  teach  fundamental  prin- 


IN  EDUCATION  31 

ciples  of  industrial  work,  striving  for  an  attitude  of 
study  and  desire  for  growth  on  the  part  of  the  pupils, 
rather  than  to  bring  in  matters  foreign  to  the  manual 
training  work  and  gain  a  false  interest  in  the  shops 
of  the  regular  schools,  making  necessary  the  es- 
tablishing of  variously  named  schools  to  give  the 
advantages  that,  with  properly  taught  shop  classes, 
could  easily  be  given  in  the  regular  schools? 

To  secure  this  attitude  of  study  on  the  part  of 
the  pupil,  should  be  a  controlling  factor  in  the  or- 
ganization and  teaching  of  the  shop  work.  It  should 
determine  the  first  lesson  and  make  it  of  such  a  na- 
ture that  the  pupil  will  see  in  the  shop  work  a  means 
of  gaining  power  and  fix  the  mental  attitude  not 
upon  acquisiton  of  material  things,  but  upon  the 
increase  of  power  which  results  from  a  definite 
realization  that  every  stroke  of  the  plane  means 
not  alone  a  trued  surface,  but  increased  power  to 
true  a  surface;  that  every  nail  driven  means  not 
alone  a  bit  of  work  completed,  but  an  increase  of 
power  to  do  work.  When  finally  the  surface  is 
trued,  the  attitude  should  be  not  that  of  a  disagree- 
able task  done  for  the  purpose  of  a  true  surface  or  a 
plant  stick,  but  a  realization  of  power  gained,  and  a 
wish  for  more  surfaces  to  true. 

The  warrior  who  sat  down  and  wept  for  more 
worlds  to  conquer  had  simply  taken  a  course  on  a 
large  scale  in  the  gaining  of  power.  I  am  not  in 
sympathy  with  the  subject  matter  of  his  course,  but 


32  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

I  do  admire  his  attitude  toward  his  work.  Give 
to  the  boy  or  girl  the  manual  training  work  with 
hammer  and  saw,  instead  of  sword  and  spear,  so 
that  they  will  gain  the  same  attitude  because  of 
each  day  having  a  definite  realization  of  increas- 
ing power,  and  there  will  be  no  lack  of  properly 
qualified  hands  to  do  the  world's  work,  either 
mechanical  or  professional.  Degrade  the  work  by 
making  it  a  task  for  a  prize,  whether  it  be  a  card, 
a  medal  or  a  taboret,  and  your  pupils  will  go  out 
into  the  activities  of  life,  not  looking  for  opportu- 
nities to  u  se  their  strength,  but  inquiring  by  what 
means  a  taboret  can  be  most  easily  obtained. 


Manual  Training  and  Industry 


We  come  now  to  a  very  important  part  of  the 
manual  training  problem,  for,  altho  manual  training 
is  believed  by  many  to  be  equal  in  rank  as  a  fac- 
tor of  a  liberal  education  to  any  of  the  old  line  sub- 
jects, yet  in  the  final  test  it  will  undoubtedly  stand 
because  of  its  industrial  worth,  or  fall  because  it 
does  not  demonstrate  its  special  value  for  those  who 
engage  in  some  branch  of  manufacturing.  It  is  well, 
therefore,  to  consider  carefully  each  detail  of  the 
work  that  we  may  give  to  the  school  shop  the  largest 
possible  industrial  value  consistent  with  this  branch 
being  a  part  of  a  course  yielding  a  liberal  education. 
We  may  discover  that  when  the  work  is  properly 
taught  there  will  be  no  conflict  between  the  indus- 
trial and  educational  values. 

In  developing  a  branch  that  differs  in  so  many 
ways  from  those  considered  as  fixed  subjects  of  our 
school  course,  it  is  not  easy  to  determine  what  its 
scope  shall  be  to  yield  the  results  desired.  In  fact 
there  is  not  yet  a  unanimous  agreement  as  to  what 
ought  to  result  from  the  teaching  of  shopwork  in 
the  public  schools.  At  the  present  time  we  may 
profitably  consider  both  that  which  is  needed  to  fit 
the  pupils  to  do  the  work  of  a  tradesman  as  at 


34  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

present  carried  on  and  also  that  which  will  best  lead 
toward  ideal  efficiency  and  the  highest  type  of 
manhood  and  citizenship. 


Two  Factors  Necessary 

Two  factors  are  necessary  for  the  highest  type  of 
workman  aside  from  general  intelligence.  First  is 
competency  to  do  the  work.  Second,  often  of  as 
much  importance  as  the  first,  is  adaptability,  the 
power  by  which  the  workman  is  able  to  change 
employment  with  a  minimum  of  loss,  both  to  himself 
and  to  his  employer.  This  change  may  be  for  the 
purpose  of  developing  a  new  line  of  work  without 
change  of  employer,  or  it  may  be  a  change  from 
one  establishment  to  another.  The  first  factor  may 
result  from  long  experience  with  limited  intellec- 
tual activity.  The  latter  can  come  only  thru  a 
thoro  knowledge  of  the  principles  common  to  a 
variety  of  occupations. 

Industrial  education  cannot  wait  for  the  devel- 
opment of  some  theory,  but  must  show  some  results 
worth  while  as  the  theories  are  being  worked  out. 
Neither  can  we  expect  the  public  to  tolerate  ex- 
perimenting, based  only  on  the  theories  developed 
apart  from  the  actual  activities  of  occupational  life. 
We  should,  however,  aim  not  simply  at  the  produc- 
tion of  a  class  of  workmen  on  the  level  of  present 
industrial  life,  but  ought  rather  to  strive  for  the 


IN  EDUCATION  85 

advancement  of  the  work  to  the  best  system  of 
production,  and  the  advancement  of  the  worker  to 
the  largest  efficiency  and  highest  type  of  workman. 


Great  Diversity   of  Industries 

We  may  gain  information  to  guide  ,us  in  plan- 
ning our  new  line  of  school  work  by  a  study  of  in- 
dustrial life.  Such  an  investigation  leads  at  once 
to  the  observation  that  our  industries  comprise 
an  extremely  wide  range  of  activities.  It  is,  there- 
fore, necessary  to  decide  whether  a  pupil  should 
be  fitted  for  only  one  industry  or  given  a  training 
that  will  make  possible  the  successful  entering  of 
any  of  a  large  class  of  industries. 

Should  we  attempt  to  fit  for  a  single  industry, 
we  meet  the  serious  difficulty  of  various  practices 
in  identically  the  same  line  of  work.  Many  illustra- 
tions can  be  given  to  prove  this  point.  The  follow- 
ing statement  in  a  technical  periodical  is  sufficient ; 
"It  is  always  interesting  to  note  the  various  ways  in 
which  the  same  class  of  material  is  handled  in  differ- 
ent shops.  Of  course,  this  difference  is  sometimes  a 
case  of  necessity  rather  than  choice,  as  a  shop  is 
often  originally  planned  and  equipped  for  an  entire- 
ly different  class  of  work  from  that  for  which  it  is 
finally  used,  but  even  where  shops  have  been  fitted 
up  expressly  for  certain  similar  lines  of  work,  the 
divergence  in  methods  or  tools  is  often  very  marked." 


36  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

This  variety  in  methods  in  the  same  industry  as 
well  as  the  great  diversity  of  industries,  is  a  factor 
to  be  reckoned  with  in  every  community  attempt- 
ing any  sort  of  specialization  in  the  schools.  So 
evident  is  this  multiplicity  of  trades  and  occupations 
that  it  seems  that  those  who  believe  the  schools  can 
fit  for  individual  trades  have  the  burden  of  proof  on 
their  hands,  and  until  there  is  a  reasonable  proof 
that  the  communities  can  be  generally  accommo- 
dated by  such  schools,  we  may  reasonably  assume 
that  the  public  school  cannot  develop  a  line  of 
trade  schools  sufficiently  comprehensive  and  diver- 
sified to  accommodate  the  public  as  a  whole. 

Even  if  by  application  of  the  rule  of  the  greatest 
good  to  the  greatest  number,  we  succeed  in  estab- 
lishing trade  schools  in  various  communities,  each 
accommodating  the  leading  occupations  of  its  com- 
munity or  city,  are  we  doing  the  best  for  the  com- 
munity as  a  whole?  Can  any  division  of  our  popu- 
lation receive  the  best  that  is  its  due  if  the  boys 
and  girls  are  born  to  an  occupation  as  must  necessa- 
rily follow  such  a  community  specialization? 

Two  Types  of  Workmen 

A  further  evidence  of  this  variety  in  shop  detail 
and  the  inefficiency  of  simple  trade  instruction  is 
shown  by  the  different  degrees  of  success  met  with 
by  men  as  they  move  from  one  shop  to  another. 


IN    EDUCATION  37 

Some  change  from  place  to  place,  each  time  advanc- 
ing in  their  work;  others,  on  leaving  the  shop  where 
they  first  learned  their  work  or  trade,  find  them- 
selves unable  to  meet  the  conditions  of  the  new  place. 
They  are  obliged  to  begin  again,  making  little  use 
of  their  first  training.  A  thorough  study  of  these 
types  of  workmen  reveals  that  one  has  been  ever  a 
student  of  principles,  the  other  has  worked  just  as 
hard  learning  tool  manipulations  and  may  be  fairly 
capable  of  studjdng  the  work  in  the  other  manner, 
if  properly  directed.  Shall  the  school  courses  be 
organized  on  the  plan  of  actual  shop  life,  permit- 
ting each  pupil  to  progress  under  instruction  similar 
to  that  of  actual  apprenticeship  training,  teaching 
tool  manipulations  and  processes  with  only  the  ex- 
ceptional pupil  gaining  a  knowledge  of  principles? 
Or,  is  the  work  to  be  made  a  real  school  subject  and 
handled  according  to  well  established  pedagogical 
laws  so  that  every  pupil  will  be  led  into  the  broader 
field  of  trade  work? 

In  determining  the  name  and  character  of  our 
schools,  we  must  not  overlook  the  fact  that  a  school 
may  be  called  a  trade  school  and  yet  do  much  more 
than  teach  a  trade  or  a  certain  number  of  trades 
and  also  that  a  school  may  be  named  the  very  op- 
posite of  a  trade  school  and  yet  teach  only  trade 
manipulations  of  very  limited  value.  Excellent 
illustrations  of  this  statement  are  to  be  found  in 
some  of  our  most  prominent  schools. 


MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 


School  Shops  Should  not  Drill  for  Skill 

To  treat  the  shop  work  of  the  school  as  crafts- 
manship, drilling  for  skill  in  some  special  line,  or  in 
certain  selected  tool  manipulations,  whether  from 
one  trade  or  from  several  trades,  is  to  turn  out  a 
class  of  pupils  of  more  or  less  efficiency  with  but  a 
small  percentage  capable  of  adapting  themselves  to 
a  sufficiently  wide  range  of  occupations  to  insure 
more  than  ordinary  success,  and  this  is  now  gained 
by  a  large  number  of  boys  without  the  advantage 
of  a  mechanical  school.  Unless  the  school  shop  can 
show  returns  exceeding,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
the  ordinary  conditions  of  training,  there  will  be 
great  difficulty  in  sustaining  them  at  public  expense. 
That  pupils  may  receive  some  advantage  because 
of  opportunities  to  learn  drawing,  mathematics,  etc., 
and  because  of  this  show  themselves  superior  to 
the  ordinary  shop  apprentice,  is  no  excuse  for  not 
giving  the  best  possible  shop  training. 

In  our  enthusiasm,  we  ought  not  to  overlook 
the  fact  that  there  are  several  things  that  may  in- 
crease the  standing  of  the  young  mechanic.  If  a 
boy  who  has  completed  a  certain  course  goes  into 
a  factory  and  is  advanced  over  boys  who  have  had 
substantially  no  schooling,  it  does  not  prove  that 
every  branch  of  the  course  has  been  what  it  ought 
to  have  been,  or  even  helpful.  In  so  large  a  number 


IN  EDUCATION  39 

of  subjects,  the  sum  total  may  be  helpful  while 
some  of  the  factors  are  decidedly  harmful.  It  is  not 
a  question  of  making  one  boy  better  than  another, 
but  rather  of  making  each  boy  the  best  possible 

Strive  for  Larger  Things 

It,  therefore,  appears  that  if  the  school  shop  is 
to  give  results  to  warrant  its  cost,  it  must  turn  to 
the  larger  successes  of  trade  life,  a  large  percentage 
of  those  who  pursue  its  courses.  This  does  not 
mean  that  they  are  to  train  for  foremen,  superin- 
endents,  or  other  executive  positions,  but  that  they 
are  to  give  to  a  large  percentage  of  pupils  such  a 
training  as  will  lead  them  to  a  thoro  knowledge  of 
the  principles  underlying  the  every  day  details  of 
work,  and  because  of  this,  to  use  a  high  degree  of 
intelligence  in  their  common  occupations.  This 
does  not  mean  that  the  special  aim  of  the  manual 
training  school  is  to  make  of  the  boy  an  intellectual 
citizen.  This  is  already  accomplished  by  the  old 
line  subjects.  The  special  feature  to  be  added  by 
this  new  line  of  school  work  is  the  making  of  his 
daily  labors  such  as  will  require  and  continually 
build  up  his  intellectual  activities.  This  necessitates 
not  simply  the  teaching  of  the  boy  to  do  a  certain 
line  of  work,  but  rather  the  teaching  him  to  do  his 
work  in  such  a  manner  as  will  cause  a  large  use  of 
his  mind  and  consequent  growth  of  intelligence. 


40  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

Shopwork  in  school  is  not  so  much  for  the  pur- 
pose of  teaching  tool  work  as  for  the  purpose  of 
improving  the  intellectual  and  manhood  factors  in 
the  work.  In  one  sense,  its  purpose  is  similar  to 
that  of  teaching  literature.  That  is  taught  not  for 
the  purpose  of  teaching  reading  but  for  the  purpose 
of  getting  out  of  reading  that  which  will  build  up 
the  larger  and  higher  intellectual  activities.  Shop 
work  should  be  taught  not  simply  to  make  the 
pupils  work,  but  for  the  purpose  of  getting  out  of 
work  the  highest  and  noblest  that  is  possible. 

Make  the  Workman  Intellectual 

We  must  not  forget  that  a  higher  grade  of  intelli- 
gence can  be  maintained  only  by  making  the  work  of 
a  more  intellectual  nature.  To  attempt  to  lift  the 
workman  by  patching  on  to  his  education  a  little 
superficial  knowledge  of  various  outside  lines  of 
" culture"  or  by  teaching  him  a  lot  of  details  in  his 
own  trade  which  he  is  not  likely  to  use  while  leaving 
him  to  do  his  daily  tasks  by  blind  imitation  and  the 
muscular  reactions  which  result  from  skill  alone,  is 
to  fail  in  our  efforts  to  elevate  the  tone  of  industrial 
life ;  for,  unless  we  train  the  workman  so  that  his  mind 
is  built  up  by  the  work  on  which  he  is  daily  engaged, 
his  power  to  benefit  by  extraneous  training  is  sooner 
or  later  lost  because  of  the  impossibility  of  a  mind 
more  or  less  dormant  through  the  active  working 


IN  EDUCATION 

rhours  continuing  to  respond  to  outside  influences. 
Industrial  education  should  aim  to  make  the 
task  of  the  industrial*  Hvorker  as  highly  intellectual 
as  possible,  replacing  in  a  continually  greater  de- 
gree, "rule  of  thumb"  'and  imitative  methods  by 
the  highly  developed  scientific  methods  of  modern 
mechanical  science.  It  should  mean  not  simply  more 
boys  entering  industrial  lines,  but  also  a  larger  in- 
telligence in  industrial  work.  It  should  mean  a 
constantly  increasing  number  of  workmen  that  put 
independent  intellectual  activity  behind  the  routine 

and  muscle  of  their  daily  tasks.        •'       ' 

t         ^ 

Makes  Labor  Honorable . 
!   i. ,:•..•*          •'   '•'*.      r t(-   - •  >••  .-.* 

If  the  work  of  the  tradesman  is  given  the 
intellectual  basis  which  it  ougftt  to  have,  there 
will  be  no  lack  of  those  to  enter  these  lines,  for 
such  a  foundation  for  the  work  must  necessaVily 
give  it  a  standing  and  'respect  before  all  that 
will  tend  '  to  make  'hoiwable,  the  entering  upon 
the  life  of  a  scientific  worker  in  {materials.  Tolsayi 
that  a,ll  work  js  honorable  and  try  to  create  a 
respect  for  labor  by  having  pupils  perform1  certain 
t^sks  Jmving-some' of  the  characteristics  of  daily 
toil  is  only  to  burlesque  the  whole  matter.  'Take 
away  from  the  commonly  called  lowly  occupations 
of  mankind,  the  long  hours,  the  continued  routine;! 

^special  conditions,  iwdp?  Which  <th,e  iatyofer  exists  i 


42  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

and  the  necessity  for  labor  and  they  cease  to  be  lowly 
occupations.  None  of  these  conditions  of  the 
laborer  are  possible  in  any  sort  of  a  free  public  ed- 
ucational institution.  On  the  other  hand,  make  the 
laborer  a  student  of  the  laws  governing  his  work, 
cause  the  whole  community  to  realize  that  there  is 
a  foundation  in  law  capable  of  being  treated  as  a 
science  for  all  the  laborer  does  and  that  he  actually 
knows  this  science  and  is  governed  by  it  in  his  daily 
work,  and  he  becomes  a  respected  member  of  society 
because  the  intellectual  obscures  the  physical. 
Allow  the  intellectual  to  subside  and  the  physical 
to  predominate  and  that  man  enters  again  the  ranks 
of  the  "toilers."  Respect  is  of  the  mind  and  its  ap- 
preciation is  for  that  which  shows  mental  power. 

Not    a  "Fad." 

This  we  believe  is  the  ideal  aim  of  shop  work  at 
public  expense.  If  so,  it  is  neither  a  fad  nor  a  patch 
upon  the  public  curriculum,  but  the  legitimate 
result  of  that  advance  in  mechanical  work  which 
has  changed  the  working  of  solid  materials  from  cut 
and  try  and  imitative  methods  to  those  based  upon 
scientific  principles.  It  is  not  the  forcing  into  the 
schools  of  matter  outside  the  legitimate  lines  of 
public  school  work,  but  rather  the  reaching  out  of 
the  schools  for  a  new  and  advanced  line  of  intellec- 
tual activity  to  give  to  the  curriculum  a  yet  stronger 


IN  EDUCATION  43 

and  more  efficient  means  of  supplying  to  all  a 
liberal  education. 

And  why  may  not  this  be  the  aim  of  this  new 
branch  of  school  work?  No  shadow  of  evidence 
exists  showing  that  by  striving  for  the  larger  values 
we  will  lose  any  of  the  lesser  advantages.  No  more 
equipment  is  required,  no  longer  hours  are  needed. 
No  less  interest  in  the  work  and  no  less  usefulness 
can  be  the  result  on  leaving  school. 

Boys  and  girls  who  have  learned  to  put  intell- 
igence into  the  common  tasks  of  life  can  do  them 
quite  as  quickly  and  as  well — we  do  not  need  to 
argue  that  they  can  do  them  better — while  over  and 
above  all  they  can  live  better  lives  as  common 
workers,  and,  should  opportunity  offer,  they  are 
ready  to  do  something  larger  for  the  benefit  of  them- 
selves and  the  community  that  fitted  them  broadly 
for  a  life's  work. 


f  . 


Methods  of  Instruction 


Following  our  inquiry  in  regard  to  the  nature 
of  manual  training,  the  subject  matter  of  instruc- 
tion, the  attitude  of  the  pupil  in  the  classroom,  and 
the  relation  of  manual  training  work  to  the  indus- 
trial world,  naturally  arises  the  question  of  actual 
classroom  methods  in  such  a  system  of  manual 
training.  It  is  not  necessary  that  at  this  time  we 
enter  into  a  consideration  of  the  datails  of  class- 
room practice,  but  rather  touch  upon  some  of  the 
more  important  features  that  distinguish  scientific 
manual  traning  or  mechanical  science  from  that -of 
trade  instruction  or  craftsmanship. 

To  those  who  look  upon  the  shop  work  as  nec- 
essarily a  sort  of  recreation  period,  the  teaching  of  a 
science  with  the  pupils  hard  at  work  studying  a  text 
book  and  working  to  demonstrate  principles,  seems 
an  impossibility,  yet this is  what  actually  takes  place 
where  scientific  manual  training  is  properly  taught. 
Methods  that  will  give  this  result  are  not  so  dif- 
ficult as  some  suppose,  as  has  been  demonstrated. 

That  the  attitude  of  the  teachers  and  their  know- 
ledge of  the  work  has  much  to  do  with  the  methods 
of  instruction  is  too  well  understood  by  all  school 
people  to  require  any  argument.  Wo  will  assume 


46  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

that  the  instructor  is  fully  prepared  and  thoroughly 
in  earnest.  That  such  instructors  cannot  be  found 
at  present  for  all  schools  need  not  be  considered  in 
this  connection. 

Lessons  Should  Be  Definite. 

The  first  thing  that  the  pupil  is  to  take  away 
with  him  is  a  definite  feeling  that  he  has  learned 
something.  Therefore  the  first  lesson  should  be 
planned  with  a  definite  idea  in  it  that  is  within  the 
reach  of  the  pupil.  The  instructor  must  ever  keep 
in  mind  that  the  thing  he  is  teaching  is  not  history, 
botany,  physics  or  even  mechanical  engineering,  but 
the  science  of  working  solid  materials,  and  must 
therefore  use  such  methods  as  will  draw  upon  this 
science  for  the  ideas  to  be  taught.  This  does  not 
hinder  such  a  consideration  and  correlation  of  other 
branches  as  may  be  gathered  around  the  mechanical 
science  with  it  as  a  center  and  basis  for  the  whole. 

The  giving  of  this  definite  idea  in  the  first  lesson 
necessarily  compels  a  very  careful  planning  of  the 
lesson,  not  only  to  be  sure  that  the  idea  is  in  the  les- 
son, but  also  that  the  pupil  will  actually  get  the 
idea  instead  of  doing  the  work  by  blind  imitation 
of  certain  muscular  movements.  This  difficulty  is 
akin  to  that  of  getting  the  pupil  to  understand  a  rule 
in  mathematics,  a  proposition  in  geometry  or  a  law 
in  physics  rather  then  merely  committing  the  words 


IN  EDUCATION  47 

by  rote.  The  instruction  of  the  shop,  however,  has 
a  great  advantage  over  that  of  any  other  branch, 
because  it  is  possible  here  to  make  the  demonstra- 
tion so  vivid  that  an  attempt  to  do  the  work  by 
blind  imitation  is  sure  not  only  to  be  discovered  by 
the  instructor,  but  also  to  be  realized  by  the  pupil 
to  such  an  extent  as  will  compel  a  study  and  under- 
standing of  the  idea  behind  the  movement  of  hand  or 
tool.  Therefore  one  of  the  most  important  things 
is  to  start  out  in  a  manner  to  gain  this  study  of  the 
principles  to  avoid  the  doing  of  the  work  by  imita- 
tion . 

Limit  of  Accuracy. 

Questioning  should  be  the  plan  of  instruction 
rather  than  telling.  Working  for  a  knowledge  of 
the  principles  rather  than  grade  of  work  should  be 
the  aim.  The  degree  of  accuracy  to  be  required 
will  than  be  determined  by  whether  the  point  be- 
ing taught  is  well  understood.  To  reach  a  close 
measurement  or  to  keep  the  corners  and  edges  sharp 
is  not  a  matter  of  skill  but  of  knowledge  of  princi- 
ples. To  have  a  certain  fraction  of  an  inch  as  a 
standard  to  work  to  is  certain  to  defeat  the  purpose 
of  the  work,  for  this  leads  the  pupil  to  employ  any 
method  that  will  bring  the  material  within  the  al- 
lowed variations.  To  have,no  standard  other  than 
the  demonstrating  of  the  principle  ^ust  necessarily 


48  MECHANICAT  SCIENCE 

result  in  a  large  percentage  of  the  work  being  brot 
to  a  very  much  higher  degree  of  perfection  than 
it  would  be  safe  to  place  as  an  arbitrary  limit,  at 
the  same  time  leaving  an  opportunity  for  the  passing 
of  particular  pieces  that  for  special  reasons  are  not 
as  accurate  as  usually  required.  It  is  the  same  in 
principle  as  expecting  absolute  accuracy  in  arithme- 
tic with  the  occasional  accepting  of  a  problem  in 
which  all  the  chief  operations  and  principles  are 
correct  bu  t  the  answer  out  because  of  a  slight  error 
in  a  minor  operation.  That  this  method  in  shop 
work  does  actually  result  in  a  high  degree  of  ac- 
curacy is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  teachers  using 
the  set  standrad  of  a  certain  fraction  of  an  inch  are 
unable  to  understand  how  the  pupils  in  scientific 
manual  training  work  to  such  close  limits. 

Again,  this  standard  of  excellence  is  not  to  be 
determined  and  attained  by  a  continued  criticising 
and  compelling  of  the  pupil  to  go  over  and  over  his 
work  correcting  little  errors  pointed  out  by  the  in- 
structor, but  rather  it  must  be  attained  by  a  definite 
working  to  a  satisfactory  standard  by  the  application 
of  the  principles  taught.  It  must  be  the  direct 
and  legitimate  result  of  the  application  of  the  prin- 
ciples without  the  aid  of  the  instructor  in  pointing; 
out  small  variations. 

A  shop  method  that  permits  a  pupil  to  hesi- 
tatingly work  first  to  an  approximate  size  and  then 
rework  and  rework,  gradually  approaching  the  line, 


IN  EDUCATION  49 

is  as  pernicious  in  the  shop  as  the  writing  of  an 
answer  to  a  problem  in  arithmetic  and  then  guess- 
ing and  trying  to  fill  in  the  various  operations. 

The  principle  should  be  understood  as  a  result 
of  a  step  by  step  progress  from  the  known  to  the  un- 
known, and  the  result  in  the  shop  should  be  as  cer- 
tain and  direct  as  the  solving  of  a  problem  in  math- 
ematics. There  must  also  be  this  advantage  in  the 
shop  work,  i.  e.,  each  problem  must  be  so  graded  and 
adapted  to  the  pupil  that  a  reasonable  effort  will 
result  in  a  correct  solution.  This  of  course  ex- 
cludes from  the  shop  all  wild,  half  thought  out  sche- 
mes of  the  pupils.  In  fact,  proper  methods  of  shop 
work  will  result  in  the  pupil  asking  advice  of  the  in- 
structor for  the  purpose  of  selecting  a  project  that 
will  be  of  large  value  in  what  it  will  teach  rather 
than  in  filling  some  material  want.  Probably  in  no 
other  feature  of  the  shop  work  is  it  so  difficult  for 
the  layman  to  distinguish  between  that  which  tends 
to  scientific  manual  training  and  that  which  does 
not  as  in  the  larger  problems  or  projects. 

The  "Cants" 

The  boy  who  "can't"  or  knows  he  "can't"  should 
be  taken  in  hand  and  made  to  see  so  clearly  that  he 
can  if  he  will  study  his  text,  that  he  will  realize  his 
failure  is  his  own  fault  because  of  not  studying. 
If  the  teacher  has  a  proper  knowledge  of  the  work 


50  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

and  methods  of  teaching,  the  "can't V  will  rapidly 
vanish,  for  as  the  scientific  treatment  of  the  work 
reduces  the  matter  of  skill  to  almost  a  negligible 
quantity,  success  becomes  almost  solely  a  matter 
of  study  and  mental  activity,  and,  therefore,  every 
pupil  having  normal  mental  power  is  with  reason- 
able application  able  to  succeed.  This  is  not  saying 
that  all  pupils  will  attain  the  same  grade  of  work, 
but  rather  that  all  will  attain  a  successful  minimum. 
Further,  this  minimum  need  never  be  below  a  tho- 
roughly well  finished  problem,  and  cannot  be  if  the 
instructor  use  such  methods  as  compel  the  learning 
of  the  principles  and  their  definite  application  to 
each  problem. 

Demonstrations 

The  method  of  presenting  the  instruction  is  a 
matter  of  chief  importance.  In  the  teaching  of 
scientific  manual  training  there  should  never  be 
given  a  demonstration  for  a  whole  class.  The  need 
for  class  demonstrations  can  come  only  from  a  wrong 
attitude  towards  the  work  on  the  part  of  both  the 
teacher  and  pupils.  After  the  pupil  has  studied 
the  textbook  and  has  done  all  in  his  power  to  learn 
and  apply  it,  he  may  fail  to  grasp  some  point.  It 
is  then  the  duty  of  the  teacher  to  find  out  exactly 
what  is  lacking  and  by  some  means  help  the  pupil 
out.  This  may  often  be  done  by  questioning  on 


IN  EDUCAITON  51 

the  text.  Sometimes  additional  directions  may  be 
given  orally.  Sometimes  the  teacher  may  answer 
the  definite  question  of  the  pupil  by  the  use  of  a 
tool.  It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  argue  that  this 
answering  of  a  definite  question  is  essentially  dif- 
ferent from  a  demonstration  lesson,  altho  a  part  of 
the  very  same  operation  may  be  performed.  In  one 
case  the  pupil  is  looking  for  something  to  imitate, 
in  the  other  he  is  thinking  and  looking  for  an  idea 
to  complete  his  thought. 

The  class  demonstration  continually  weakens 
the  pupil  by  increasing  his  dependence  on  another. 
The  texbook  and  explination  method  increases  con- 
tinually the  pupil's  strength  by  making  him  capa- 
ble of  doing  without  any  personal  assistance.  In 
fact,  as  has  been  proven  by  experience,  he  soon 
learns  to  reason  out  step  by  step  from  what  he 
knows  difficult  problems  that  are  not  answered 
even  in  the  text.  This  continued  through  a  fair 
school  course  gives  the  pupil  power,  on  leaving 
school,  to  enter  any  of  a  large  number  of  industries 
and  with  little  or  no  assistance  or  " showing"  reason 
out  the  needed  new  processes  from  the  principles  he 
has  as  his  stock  in  trade.  If  he  finds  his  stock  too 
limited  or  incomplete  in  some  detail,  he  has  learned 
to  go  to  books  for  help  and  will  likely  have  no 
difficulty  in  finding  a  book  that  will  give  the  de- 
sired assistance. 


52  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

The  Nature  of  the  Text 

If  so  much  is  to  be  gained  from  the  study  of 
mechanical  science  by  the  use  of  a  text,  it  is 
evident  that  the  character  of  the  text  is  of  great 
importance.  As  the  chief  value  of  the  text  is  not 
to  give  information  but  to  lead  to  generalizations 
and  a  knowledge  of  principles,  it  is  essential  that 
the  text  be  such  a  carefully  and  systematically 
planned  course  as  will  give  this  result.  For  this 
reason  the  basing  of  the  work  on  reference  books, 
or  the  use  of  methods  or  projects  that  require  a 
large  use  of  random  references,  is  certain  to  cause 
a  failure  to  get  the  intellectual  out  of  the  work. 

If  the  pupil  is  allowed  to  plan  his  work  and 
carry  it  forward  by  use  of  reference  works  or  by 
the  assistance  of  the  instructor  he  must  necessarily 
base  his  course  on  the  project,  and  this  in  turn  ne- 
cessitates the  steps  in  the  project  determining  the 
order  of  study,  and  the  getting  of  something  done 
the  ultimate  aim.  There  is,  therefore,  no  power  to 
cause  the  pupil  to  study  a  single  principle  underly- 
ing the  work  he  is  doing.  All  he  requires  and  all 
he  will  get  is  a  process  or  so  much  of  a  process  as 
he  needs  on  his  project.  This  bit  of  detail  or  in- 
formation is  not  necessarily  connected  with  anything 
that  precedes  or  follows,  and  therefore,  having  no 
logical  connection  with  anything  is  soon  forgotten. 
The  result  is  that  definite  progress  is  not  assured 


IN  EDUCATION  53 

and  the  completion  of  such  a  course  no  evidence  of 
ability  to  handle  new  problems.     It  is  not  certain 
that  the  pupil  can  repeat  the  very  problems  worked 
out  in  his  school  course,  for  each  detail  having  been 
learned  for  immediate  use  and  not  connected  by  any 
underlying  principles  with  other  details  is  often  for- 
gotten as  soon  as  used,  so  that  at  the  end  of  the 
course  the  only  things  noticeable  that  the  pupil 
carries  away  from  the  school  are  a  poorly  executed 
problem  and  a  large  over-estimate  of  his  knowledge 
of  mechanical  work.     The  writer  has  often  seen 
this  demonstrated  by  pupils  who  have  applied  to 
him  for  advanced  credit  after  completing  a  part  or 
all  of  the  work  at  well  known  institutions.     It  may 
be  found  that  this  method  of  class  demonstration 
and  the  attempt  to  complete  a  course  in  school  shop 
work  by  basing  the  instruction  on  the  project  in- 
stead of  following   definitely    planned   courses  by 
the  use  of  regular  texts  is  the  chief  reason  why  so 
many  pupils  from  the  manual  training  schools  fail 
to  make  good  in  industry.    This  naturally  leads  to 
the  demand  for  other  types  of  schools  for  the  teach- 
ing of  industrial  work.     If  the  root  of  the  difficul- 
ty is  in  the  methods  of  instruction  employed  in  the 
common  schools,  would  it  not  be  wise  first  to  im- 
prove these  methods  before  going  to  the  large  ex- 
pense of  establishing  separate  schools?  Investigation 
by  those  in  authority  ought  to  bring  about  such  a 
comparative  study  as  to  determine  the  best  methods. 


54  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

Failures  in  Old-Line  Methods 

The  writer  has  found  much  evidence  of  the 
failure  of  the  old-line  methods,  not  only  in  his  work 
with  pupils  in  the  grades  and  in  high  school,  but 
also  with  those  who  have  been  prepared  by  well 
known  institutions  as  teachers  of  manual  training. 
These  people,  graduates  of  what  are  supposed  to  be 
our  best  schools,  were  found  to  be  unable  to  perform 
in  a  proper  manner  many  of  the  elementary  tool 
operations.  On  taking  up  scientific  manual  train- 
ing they  have  confessed  that  their  former  course  has 
somehow  failed  to  provide  them  with  the  informa- 
tion, but  that  until  actually  studying  the  scientific 
principles  of  working  materials  they  did  not  reuli/o 
that  their  course  was  so  defective.  The  comparison 
made  by  some  of  these  pupils,  those  ranking  high 
in  their  credits  in  old-line  work,  would  be  consider- 
ed gross  exaggeration  by  those  not  familiar  with  the 
two  systems  of  work. 

Lack  of  an  Established  Standard 

There  can  be  no  question  but  that  the  most 
serious  difficulty  at  present  in  the  building  up  of  a 
course  in  school  shopwork  and  the  establishing  of 
proper  methods  of  shop  instruction  is  the  lack  of 
proper  and  well  understood  standards  with  which 
to  compare  results.  The  work  is  established  in  a 


IN    EDUCATION  55 

school  or  possibly  in  an  entire  school  system  and 
the  work  done  is  thought  to  be  ideal.  Teachers 
and  pupils  are  delighted.  Large  and  showy  proj- 
ects are  made  and  pupils,  teachers  and  parents  be- 
lieve that  wonders  have  been  accomplished.  Even- 
tually some  of  the  pupils  find  employment  in 
shops  or  factories  and  the  school  shopwork  is  cred- 
ited with  the  success.  No  careful  analysis  is  made 
to  determine  what  part  of  the  work  is  responsible 
for  the  results.  Seldom  if  ever  are  the  methods  of 
school  shopwork  and  the  methods  of  instruction 
definitely  criticised,  and  last  but  not  least,  the  fact 
that  boys  have  entered  shops  and  factories  in  large 
numbers  and  have  met  with  success  without  any 
school  shopwork  is  overlooked.  The  determining 
of  a  standard  for  comparison  will  aid  greatly  in 
answering  the  question:  Are  the  methods  in  use 
in  the  school  shops  actually  producing  results  with 
the  pupils  that  especially  need  this  work?  There  is 
another  question  that  has  not  yet  been  satisfactor- 
ily answered  in  many  sections:  Are  the  results  of  a 
permanent  character,  or  only  those  contingent  on 
the  work  being  new  and  appealing  to  a  superficial 
interest  by  its  novelty? 

Spoiling    Work 

Another  method    peculiar  to   scientific   manual 
training  is  the  conducting  of  the  class  work  so  that 


56  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

a  piece  is  seldom  spoiled.  Only  in  a  very  excep- 
tional case  is  any  pupil  given  a  duplicate  piece  oi 
material.  This  tends  to  a  careful  planning  of  work 
care  and  system  in  the  work,  and  the  largest  possible 
thought  factor  in  every  detail.  It  is  the  logical 
sequence  of  teaching  principles  which  proceed  from 
the  known  to  the  unknown  by  such  steps  as  the 
pupil  is  able  to  take  with  certainty,  and  therefore 
there  is  little  opportunity  for  spoiled  projects  01 
spoiled  pieces  of  even  small  size.  This  avoiding  o: 
spoiled  work  is  not  to  be  accomplished  by  having 
the  pupil  lay  aside  his  regular  work  from  time  t( 
time  and  practice  the  various  operations  on  extn 
material.  With  the  study  of  principles  rather  thai 
processes  there  is  really  nothing  to  practice,  for  i 
the  principle  is  well  understood  the  result  is  correc 
the  first  time;  if  it  is  not  understood,  the  prope: 
course  to  pursue  is  to  get  an  understanding  of  i 
before  attempting  to  apply  it  in  the  working  of  th< 
material. 

Although  this  avoids  waste  of  material  and  re 
duces  to  a  considerable  degree  the  expense  of  car 
rying  on  the  shopwork,  yet  its  chief  value  is  ii 
the  constant  increase  in  the  power  and  confident 
of  the  pupil  that  naturally  follows  the  doing  of  task: 
each  more  and  more  difficult  and  yet  without  an] 
failures. 

For  pupils  to  demonstrate  to  themselves  by  thi 
use  of  properly  graded  shop  work  that  they  can  ty 


IN  EDUCATION  57 

proper  study  and  effort  do  new  and  difficult  tanks 
with  a  certainty  that  they  will  succeed  is  one  of  the 
largest  possible  benefits  that  can  come  from  any 
sort  of  school  or  educational  work.  Is  it  not 
therefore  reasonable  to  place  a  very  high  value 
on  methods  that  will  yield  this  return  and  on  a 
system  of  work  that  readily  affords  an  opportunity 
for  such  methods? 


Our  Duty  Toward  the 
Manual  Training  Movement 


This  series  of  articles  would  be  incomplete  were 
they  to  close  without  pointing  out  some  ways  in 
which  this  movement  may  be  aided  by  those  inter- 
ested in  the  welfare  of  our  educational  system  and 
the  children.  It  is  not  an  easy  task  to  point  out 
what  is  needed  to  be  done  without  noticing  some 
of  the  deficiencies  of  the  work  as  at  present  given 
in  our  leading  schools.  As  we  have  worked  and 
observed  the  work  of  others  almost  since  the  first 
manual  training  schools  were  established,  we  have 
been  unwillingly  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
greatest  harm  done  to  the  cause  is  the  withholding 
of  just  criticisms  for  fear  that  some  one  would  be 
led  to  believe  that  the  whole  manual  training  idea 
is  wrong.  To  such  an  extent  has  this  feeling  pre- 
vailed that  even  those  striving  diligently  for  the  right 
have  been  forced  to  yield  to  improper  methods  of 
work  because  of  the  popularity  of  superficial  and 
showy  attempts  by  others  to  get  results  that  would 
appeal  to  those  having  no  knowledge  or  understand- 
ing of  the  larger  values  of  manual  training  work. 


60  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

In  our  criticisms  and  attempts  to  point  out  ways 
and  means  of  aiding  this  movement,  it  must  not  be 
understood  that  we  believe  no  good  has  yet  come 
from  the  various  attempts  at  school  shop  work. 
"The  past  has  taught  its  lesson,  the  present  has  its 
duty,  the  future  its  hope/'  and  without  taking 
space  to  review  what  has  been  done,  let  us  consider 
our  duty  at  the  present,  not  as  passive  recipients 
of  the  good  the  work  is  doing,  but  as  factors  in 
advancing  this  branch  of  school  work.  This  sub- 
ject, though  well  enough  established  to  leave  little 
doubt  of  its  continuance  as  a  part  of  school  work,  is 
yet  new  and  immature  when  compared  with  the  pos- 
sibilities before  it  and,  therefore,  has  a  claim  on  all 
for  whatever  aid  is  in  their  power  to  give. 

Our  Chief  Difficlty 

Perhaps  our  chief  difficulty  lies  in  placing  too 
much  emphasis  on  what  has  been  accomplished ,  for 
as  we  review  the  long  list  of  benefits  already  received 
we  feel  that  our  duty  to  the  movement  has  been 
discharged  and  that  now  all  we  have  to  do  is  to 
continue  along  present  lines,  or,  in  other  words  we 
fail  to  realize  that  we  are  dealing  with  a  new  and 
most  powerful  factor  that  is  to  develop  into  one  of 
the  most  important  factors  in  a  system  povinding 
-a  liberal  education. 


IN  EDUCATION  61 

Because  of  our  experince  with  other  subjects 
of  the  school  course  we  make  use  of  a  false  standard 
and  fail  to  realise  how  much  more  can  be  accom- 
plished by  this  new  subject.  We  rest  content,  feel- 
ing that  its  limit  has  been  reached  when  in  reality 
the  results  obtained  are  insignificant  compared  with 
what  should  be  accomplished.  No  doubt  this  lack 
of  a  proper  standard  for  comparison  is  the  cause  of 
much  of  the  slackness  in  the  administration  of  this 
part  of  our  school  work. 

Should  we  criticise  the  work  in  any  other  sub- 
ject of  the  school  course  we  would  judge  it  as  to 
whether  it  taught  the  thing  intended  or  not  and  we 
would  permit  no  indefinite  guessing  as  to  what  was 
to  be  taught.  If  we  were  to  pass  judgment  on  the 
value  of  a  composition  on  American  history,  we 
would  not  ignore  the  errors  in  historical  facts  and 
call  the  paper  excellent  because  the  writer  had  made 
a  fine  appearing  paper  by  aid  of  a  writing  machine, 
nor  would  we  condemn  a  historical  paper  of  a  high 
order  because  the  writing  was  only  ordinary. 

Yet  we  see  shop  work  judged  excellent  because 
the  pupil,  or  teacher,  selected  an  artistic  design, 
although  the  construction  is  of  an  extremely  poor 
quality  and  lacking  in  all  the  more  valuable  features 
of  manual  training  work.  We  also  see  other  work 
condemned  because  the  design  is  not  the  most  re- 
plete with  curves  and  surface  decoration,  although 
it  shows  not  only  excellent  workmanship,  but  also 


62  MECHANICAT  SCIENCE 

demonstrates  large  growth  in  both  mechanical  effi- 
ciency and  intellectual  power.  To  such  an  extent  is 
the  work  based  on  design  and  superficial  appear- 
ance in  one  of  the  most  noted  manual  training  schools 
of  this  country  that  the  advance  in  knowledge  of 
working  materials  is  all  but  a  negligible  quantity 
throughout  the  course,  except  with  such  few  pupils 
as  have  a  sufficiently  large  natural  ability  to  dig  out 
these  principles  in  addition  to  any  requirements 
of  the  schools.  In  fact,  the  only  pupils  that  appear 
to  be  advanced  to  any  noticeable  degree  in  the  line 
of  mechanical  work,  or  to  receive  any  intellectual 
growth  from  the  use  of  tools,  are  those  who  would 
"dig  out  a  trade"  without  a  teacher  if  given  tools 
and  a  place  for  work.  Are  we  doing  our  duty  by 
the  pupils  and  the  taxpayers  when  we  establish 
expensive  manual  training  schools  and  allow 
such  methods  of  work  as  permit  the  shops 
and  mechanical  courses  to  be  only  passive  elements 
in  the  school  work. 

Not  Finding  Fault 

This  is  not  finding  fault  with  good  design  or 
art,  but  as  no  one  has  yet  given  any  reason 
whaterve  why  we  cannot  have  these  things  to- 
gether with  the  learning  of  the  things  for  which 
manual  training  was  established,  it  seems  that 
some  one  has  a  s,erious  duty  to  perfonm  when 


IN  EDUCATION  63 

we  see  schools  in  which  various  other  lines  of 
work  have  largely  or  entirely  displaced  the 
manual  training  work,  although  making  use  of 
the  forms  and  tools  properly  belonging  to  the 
manual  training.  One  does  not  need  to  visit 
many  leading  manual  training  schools  to  find, 
if  he  will  take  the  trouble  to  see  exactly  what  is 
being  done,  pupils  who  have  passed  through  the 
woodshops  with  no  apparent  growth  in  ability 
to  work  solid  materials  nor  with  any  of  the  intellect- 
ual growth  that  should  result  from  a  thorough  and 
definite  study  of  mechanical  science. 

Teacher's     Qualifications 

Closely  allied  with  our  duty  in  criticising  the 
work  is  that  of  careful  scrutiny  of  the  teacher's  qual- 
ifications. As  an  example,  Mr.  G —  secured  a  po- 
sition in  one  of  our  largest  cities  as  instructor  in 
shopwork  in  a  ward  school.  He  was  recommended 
by  a  school  known  to  substantially  all  educators  as 
a  school  especially  qualified  to  fit  pupils  for  teach- 
ing manual  training.  The  actual  preparation  that 
this  teacher  received  was  some  of  the  school's  the- 
ories and  shop  practice,  consisting  of  the  making  of 
a  " plant  label"  and  partly  making  a  "plant  stick." 
On  being  asked  how  he  managed  to  get  along 
on  such  a  limited  knowledge  of  tool  work, 
he  replied  that  for  the  first  three  months  he 


64  MECHANICAL  oCIENCE 

watched  the  pupils  to  see  how  they  did  the  work. 
At  the  time  the  writer  visited  this  school  the  wrork 
was  still  crude  attempts  at  making  articles,  mostly 
of  doubtful  value,  with  very  little  learned. 

The  writer's  observations  confirm  the  statement 
of  many  practical  men  that  there  is  altogether  too 
large  a  percentage  of  people  in  the  school  wood- 
shops  who  have  nothing  to  teach  in  the  line  of  wood- 
work and  are  therefore  bluffing  and  trying  to  make 
a  showing  by  pointing  to  the  " design,"  the  "art  ' 
the  "self-activity  of  the  pupil"  and  various  other 
outside  matters  to  cover  up  their  total  deficiency 
in  knowledge  of  working  materials. 

Another  Example 

Again,  in  a  city  especially  favored  with  an  enthu- 
siastic superintendent  and  abundant  means,  vari- 
ous systems  of  manual  training  were  supposed  to 
be  tried  out  and  conclusions  reached.  The  writer, 
anxious  to  get  the  best  to  be  had,  took  occasion 
to  attend  as  a  regular  pupil  the  classes  of  one  of 
the  instructors.  You  can  imagine  the  writer's 
feelings  on  discovering  that  this  teacher,  supposed 
to  be  at  or  near  the  top  in  his  line,  had  never 
thought  of  any  principles  of  tool  work  and  was 
grossly  ignorant  of  many  simple  tool  operations. 
In  fact,  he  had  literally  nothing  to  teach.  At 
best  he  had  only  a  few  muscular  movements  to 


.   IN  EDUCATION  .65 

go  through  before  the  class  for  the  pupils  to 
blindly  imitate.  It  is  no  wonder  that  this  city, 
after  a  variety  of  such  experimenting,  should  now 
be  trying  a  trade  school.  It  is  the  duty  of  some 
one  to  change  this  condition. 

Why  Trade  Schools? 

Should  we  dig  to  the  bottom  of  the  present 
agitation  for  a  dual  system  of  schools  there  seems 
little  doubt  but  that  we  will  find  the  cause  of 
the  difficulty  in  the  employment  of  incompetent 
instructors  in  the  shops  of  the  regular  schools. 

Scattered  throughout  the  country  are  a  few 
teachers  who  actually  know  what  they  are  trying 
to  teach  and  actually  teach  it;  but  mixed  up 
with  these  in  all  sorts  of  official  relations  are 
those  who  have  substantially  no  knowledge  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  working  solid  materials 
and  are  therefore  putting  up  all  sorts  of  bluffs 
and  makeshifts  to  take  the  place  of  actual  in- 
struction in  mechanical  lines.  That  some  one  has 
failed  to  do  his  duty  is  plainly  evident.  Our 
present  duty  is  to  take  nothing  for  granted  arid 
go  carefully  into  the  details  of  our  school  shop- 
work  so  that  no  one  may  be  misjudged.  Those  doT 
ing  good  work  should  be  encouraged  and  he,lpec| 
to  do  more  and  better,  while  those  bluffing,  at^ 
the  job  should  be  eliminated.  {  f.  j 


66  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

Duty  cf    Superintendent 

There  are  many  ways  in  which  the  superin- 
tendent of  schools  can  help  the  manual  trail  sing 
movement.  As  most  of  these  officials  have  had 
no  opportunity  to  study  this  line  of  work  either 
by  actually  doing  it  or  teaching  it,  there  is  ex- 
ceptional need  for  school  principals  that  have  a 
thorough  knowledge  both  of  the  theory  and  prac- 
tice of  shop  instruction.  Therefore  the  superin- 
tendent has  an  opportunity  to  aid  much  by  en- 
couraging the  school  principals  to  spend  the  nec- 
essary time  to  get  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
work.  Also  in  employing  principals  he  can  give 
the  preference  to  candidates  satisfactory  in  other 
respects  and  up  in  manual  training  work.  He 
will  be  able  to  aid  very  much  by  encouraging 
all  his  teachers  to  get  as  large  an  understand- 
ing of  the  shop  work  as  their  time  will  permit. 
His  chief  aid,  however,  is  in  helping  to  form  a 
healthy  public  sentiment. 

Basement  Shops 

We  may  help  to  get  the  shops  out  of  the  dark 
cellars  and  basements.  It  is  impossible  to  teach  the 
principles  of  shopwork  in  a  satisfactory  manner 
unless  there  is  an  abundance  of  well  diffused  lisrht. 
It  is  not  enough  that  a  pupil  may  be  able  to  see 


IN  EDUCATION  67 

the  lines  on  his  work  by  holding  it  up  to  the  light.  In 
order  to  learn  the  correct  methods  of  doing  the  work, 
the  pupil  must  be  able  to  see  all  the  lines  definitely 
with  the  work  in  proper  position  on  the  bench.  This 
is  impossible  with  the  ordinary  basement  light,  and 
especially  so  where  it  enters  from  but  one  side. 
While  a  pupil  may  turn  a  book  about  until  the 
light  is  effective,  the  shop  work  often  cannot  be 
thus  turned.  Everyone  having  to  do  with  the 
manual  training  work  should  aid  in  creating  a 
sentiment  that  will  make  the  use  of  an  improp- 
erly lighted  basement  for  shop  work  entirely  out 
of  the  question.  If  room  is  insufficient  and  a  base- 
ment must  be  used,  then  use  it  for  some  class 
that  does  not  require  so  much  light.  Other  recita- 
tions usually  require  half  the  time  and  therefore  it 
is  a  matter  of  good  hygiene  to  use  the  rooms  for 
such  recitations  as  will  change  the  pupils  about 
often,  keeping  one  class  in  the  unpleasant  sur- 
roundings for  as  short  a  time  as  possible.  With 
properly  conducted  courses,  the  noise  and  litter  of 
the  wood -shop  need  not  hinder  its  being  located  in 
any  schoolroom.  W^e  are  rapidly  passing  from  that 
stage  in  the  development  of  shop  work  when  its 
success  is  to  be  measured  by  the  amount  of  noise 
made  and  the  piles  of  shavings  and  materials, 
possibly  spoiled  pieces,  littered  about  the  room. 
We  have  almost  reached  a  point  when  we  can  say 
that  the  actual  value  of  the  work  is  inversely  ;is 


68  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

the  amount  of  noise  and  also  the  quantity  of  ma- 
terials used.  It  is  therefore  true  that  the  school 
shop  has  no  greater  claim  on  us  all  than  to  have 
this  fact  recognized ;  and  then  be  placed  in  a  re- 
spectable part  of  the  school  buildings. 

Is  the  Pupil  Thinking? 

Another  duty  that  can  be  successfully  performed 
only  by  those  familiar  with  the  educational  pro- 
cesses and  able  to  judge  accurately  of  the  intel- 
lectual activities  of  the  pupils,  as  well  as  having 
an  exact  knowledge  of  the  shop  problems,  is  the 
careful  analysis  of  the  work  to  determine  whether 
it  is  resulting  in  actual  thinking  or  only  in  simple 
perceptions.  Is  the  pupil  merely  receiving,  bit  by 
bit,  such  fragments  of  information  as  he  requires  in 
the  making  of  his  project  or  is  he  forming  general- 
izations and  learning  fundamental  principles  that 
he  understands  and  will  be  able  to  apply  to  other 
a  ad  various  problems?  No  more  important  task 
is  before  those  able  to  carry  on  this  line  of  criticism, 
and  no  other  line  of  criticism  will  do  so  much  to 
establish  the  valuable  and  eliminate  the  worthless. 

To  place  correct  values  on  each  detail  of  the 
work,  although  a  matter  of  no  small  labor,  is  also  a 
matter  of  no  small  importance.  It  is  neither  just 
to  the  shopwork  nor  to  the  pupils  to  permit  extra- 
neous matter  to  be  traded  for  the  real  values  of 


:•    IN  EDUCATION  69 

tool  work,  nor  can  we  hope  to  make  definite 
progress  BO  long  as  this  substituting  is  permitted. 
Only  by  this  careful  analysis  of  the  work  and  by 
placing  true  values  on  each  part  can  we  hope  to 
strengthen  the  weak  places  and  eliminate  that 
which  is  not  primarily  manual  training.  To-day 
we  are  religiously  holding  to  certain  methods  of 
work  because  in  the  past  they  have  been  compared 
with  others  even  more  defective,  and  found  better. 
Such  a  method  of  elimination  can  lead  only  to 
confusion.  We  should  rather,  however  great  the 
task,  see  that  we  are  comparing  correct  values, 
or  at  least  not  settle  down  to  a  fixed  conviction 
until  such  a  comparison  can  be  made.  Should  we 
undertake  such  a  review  of  our  conclusion  we  may 
find  that  all  the  confusion  that  has  been  so  charac- 
teristic of  the  manual  training  movement  has  been 
caused  by  drawing  conclusions  from  imperfect  data. 
Judgments  are  formed  and  the  possible  values 
of  school  shopwork  determined  by  inspecting  work 
that  is  entirely  void  of  any  of  those  values  found 
in  Mechanical  Science  work.  Conclusions  are 
formed  without  any  knowledge  of  the  science  as 
exemplified  in  that  high  type  of  workmanship 
now  found  in  leading  American  industries.  Er- 
roneous judgments  are  made  because  of  seeing 
some  finished  project  that  is  apparently  satisfactory 


70  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

without  inquiring  as  to  methods  of  accomplish- 
ment or  as  to  how  much  superior  results  might 
have  been  accomplished  by  using  such  subject 
matter  as  properly  forms  the  content  of  a  school 
shop  course. 


German  Schools  and 
Our  Problem 


Always  in  search  of  the  best,  never  satisfied 
with  the  present,  the  patriotic  American  does  not 
hesitate  to  go  anywhere  for  information  or  sug- 
gestions that  promise  assistance  in  making  or 
keeping  this  nation  in  the  lead.  It  was  necessary 
for  some  one  only  to  hint  that  another  nation  was 
likely  to  surpass  us  in  certain  lines  of  school  work 
to  start  a  series  of  pilgrimages  to  that  foreign  land 
in  quest  of  those  better  things  in  education.  As 
we  look  upon  the  accumulation  of  reports,  some 
public,  some  private,  that  have  resulted  from  these 
pilgrimages  we  can  scarcely  help  believing  that 
something  awful  is  in  store  for  our  beloved  land 
if  we  do  not  at  once  move  some  of  those  German 
schools  bodily  over  the  sea  and  fill  them  with 
American  boys. 

Just  how  all  this  began  is  difficult  to  determine. 
Perhaps  now  it  does  not  matter.  Certainly,  if  we 
can  pause  long  enough  to  get  our  bearings  and 
determine  our  present  duty,  we  shall  have  accom- 
plished much.  To  accomplish  this,  let  us  refuse 


72  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

to  theorize,  and  devote  our  attention  to  some  facts 
from  a  different  source  than  those  usually  sup- 
plied in  the  discussion  of  this  great  problem  in 
education. 

A  Question  of  Mechanical  Efficiency 

As  this  is,  in  the  end,  a  question  of  commer- 
cial or  mechanical  efficiency  we  may  reasonably 
expect  to  find  some  very  definite  data  to  guide 
us  in  our  conclusions.  We  may  not  treat  a  mat- 
ter, so  definitely  in  the  realm  of  the  exact,  with 
hearsay  testimony  or  the  generalizations  of  the 
mind  that  has  been  schooled  largely  by  reading 
fiction.  Neither  can  we  grant  the  claim  of  immu- 
nity from  criticism  because  of  professional  courtesy . 
The  world  of  business,  though  possessing  many  of 
the  higher  ideals  of  human  relations  is,  neverthe- 
less, run  on  what  is,  rather  than  what  might  be, 
and  when  we  wish  to  develop  a  school  to  increase 
the  efficiency  in  the  industrial  world  of  the  rising 
generation  we  must  be  very  careful  to  deal  with 
what  is,  rather  than  what  seems  to  be,  because  of 
careless  or  incompetent  conclusions. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  take  space  to  repeat  tho 
many  variously-worded  statements  so  often  met 
with,  all  of  which  may  be  summed  up  in  the  one 
sentence:  that  Germany  is  getting  the  markets 
of  the  world  awav  from  us  and  this  is  the  result 


IN  EDUCATION  73 

of  Germany's  schools  that  train  a  superior  body  of 
workers  for  her  industries.  This  statement  readily 
divides  into  two  parts:  the  getting  of  the  world's 
trade,  and  the  means  by  which  it  is  accomplished, 
or  superior  German  schools. 

Casual  Statements  Have  Passed  as  Authority 

As  I  have  read  report  after  report  and  article 
after  article  by  those  usually  credited  with  care  in 
their  statements  I  have  been  quite  amazed  at  the 
reckless  manner  in  which  casual  statements  or  mere 
guesses  have  been  passed  along  until  they  have  been 
clothed  with  all  the  authority  of  carefully  estab- 
lished facts.  Where  did  the  notion  come  from 
that  Germany  is  getting  the  markets  of  the  world 
away  from  us?  Who  first  said  so,  and  on  what 
authority?  A  glance  at  "Uncle  Sam's  Almanac," 
the  Annual  Report  of  Commerce  and  Navigation, 
does  not  tell  any  such  thing,  nor  even  hint  at  any 
such  conclusion.  Why,  our  exports  of  manufactures 
are  growing  so  rapidly  that  unless  something  unusual 
is  to  happen  we  shall  soon  not  only  be  the  lead- 
ing nation  of  the  world  in  the  export  of  manufac- 
tures, but  literally  dominate  the  world's  markets. 
Look  for  a  moment  at  these  figures:  In  1820  we 
exported  $2,925,165  worth  of  manufactures  ready 
for  consumption.  The  figures  for  subsequent  years 
are:  1850,  $17,162,206  worth:  1870,  $56,329,137 


74  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

worth:  1890,  $132,257,050  worth:  In  the  year 
1900,  $331,995,684  worth:  in  1908,  $489,469,958 
worth:  in  1910,  $499,215,329  worth:  and  in  1913, 
$776,297,360.  Add  to  this  about  one-half  as 
much  more  of  articles  on  which  we  have  done 
as  much  of  the  work  as  we  find  profitable  and 
we  have  an  even  stronger  showing. 

Another  Item  of  Exports 

There  is  another  item  to  be  added  to  our  total 
exports  of  manufactured  articles  that  usually  is 
entirely  overlooked.  We  are  apt  to  think  of  all 
farm  products  as  the  very  beginnings  of  raw  materi- 
als. This  was  no  doubt  true  when  the  grain  grew 
almost  unaided  by  cultivation  and  the  dairy  and 
meat  products  were  taken  from  the  roving  herd. 
But  today  the  wheat  and  corn,  the  butter  and 
beef,  is  largely  the  last  product  of  a  co-operation 
in  production  which  begins  in  the  iron  mine  and 
the  coal  mine  as  well  as  in  the  field.  Could  we 
but  see  the  millions  of  wheels  that  turn  as  a  part 
of  one  gigantic  machine  to  grind  out  the  corn 
and  wheat  from  the  soil,  we  would  not  wonder  that 
we  do  not  have  to  go  to  the  ends  of  the  earth 
to  gain  a  competence  by  selling  manufactures. 

From  your  own  knowledge  and  experience  of 
affairs  calculate  the  amount  of  iron  and  steel  and 
wood  in  the  shape  of  agricultural  machinery  and 


IN  EDUCATION  75 

the  machinery  with  which  the  agricultural  ma- 
chinery is  made,  to  produce  an  average  farm  crop. 
To  think  that  the  load  of  wheat  represents  a 
gift  from  the  soil,  or  even  a  large  percentage  of 
it,  is  to  overlook  our  modern  methods  of  production. 

Therefore,  when  we  ship  our  cargoes  of  wheat 
and  meat,  we  are  shipping  the  produce  of  the 
thousands  of  factories  and  shops,  from  the  black- 
smith shop  where  the  farmer  has  his  horseshoeing 
done,  to  the  great  farm  implement  factories  and 
railroad  shops  that  supply  him  with  engines,  ma- 
chinery and  means  of  transportation. 

As  American  farmers  use  much  more  machinery 
in  their  work  than  those  of  any  other  country  a 
larger  percentage  of  our  agricultural  exports  should 
be  credited  to  our  manufacturers  than  to  any  oth- 
er country.     Just  how  large  a  percentage  of  the 
total  of  about  $450,000,000  should  thus  be  cred- 
ited cannot  be  determined.     To  know  that  a  great 
amount   of   capital   and   a  large   number  of  em- 
ployees are  interested  in  the  manufacture  of  agri- 
cultural machinery  is  but  a  partial  estimate,  for 
even  a  larger  number  of  men  and  a  greater  amount 
of    capital    is   used   in  supplying   machinery  and 
materials  for  these  agricultural  machinery  plants. 
In   our   study  of  modern   education  we  are   alto- 
gether too   apt  to  "think  in  terms   and  meanings 
that    apply  only   to   conditions   prevailing  before 
the  advent  of  modern   industrial   methods. 


76  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 


Is  Germany  Flooding  This  Country? 

But  someone  says,  Germany  is  flooding  this 
country  with  her  manufactures.  Perhaps,  and 
perhaps  not.  Nearly  everyone  finds  it  really 
profitable  to  purchase  something  of  his  neighbor 
and  it  does  not  seem  out  of  place  for  us  to  buy 
of  Germany.  Better  not  set  down  the  deal  as 
unfavorable  until  going  carefully  over  the  bargain 
and  making  certain  just  how  it  is  made  and  who 
is  getting  the  larger  benefit.  What  do  you  see 
about  you  that  bears  the  "Made  in  Germany" 
mark?  Scissors,  pocket  knives,  fancy  articles, 
cheap  jewelry,  picture  postcards,  dolls,  etc.  and 
occasionally  some  larger  and  more  pretentious 
article;  but  the  list  as  you  would  make  it  from 
your  own  observation  would  not  differ  greatly 
from  the  list  found  in  the  government  reports. 

Most  of  the  articles  are  imported  in  such  small 
quantities  as  not  to  be  worthy  of  consideration. 
Compared  with  our  totals  in  industrial  life  they 
may  well  be  likened  to  neighborly  housewives 
occasionally  exchanging  a  pie  or  cake  or  helping 
one  another  with  a  tin  of  biscuit. 

One  of  our  large  items  is  books,  maps  and 
printed  matter,  about  one  and  a  half  million 
dollars'  worth  a  year.  Were  this  all  in  picture 
postcards  it  would  be  about  three  per  capita. 


IN  EDUCATION  77 

This  ought  not  to  worry  us.  About  one-half  as 
much  in  value  of  bronzes,  one-fourth  of  a  cent  per 
capita  of  buttons  and  about  one-half  a  cent  per 
capita  of  clocks  and  watches.  In  china,  porcelain, 
Parian  and  bisque  ware  we  import  less  than  four 
cents'  worth  per  capita.  In  "Iron  and  Steel  and 
Manufactures  of",  the  total  amounts  to  something 
less  than  six  cents  per  capita,  including  less  than 
two  cents  per  capita  of  cutlery. 

This   is  a    Large    Country 

We  must  keep  in  mind  that  this  is  a  large 
country  and  that  we  have  many  foreigners  among 
us  who  still  retain  their  prejudices  for  things  made 
in  the  fatherland;  also  that  many  of  our  merchants 
import  articles  not  because  they  are  better,  but 
to  cater  to  the  never-ceasing  call  for  variety  or 
something  that  bears  the  mark  of  having  been 
brought  from  a  great  distance. 

The   Competitive   Imports   Are   Few 

Eliminate  from  our  imports  from  Germany  such 
items  as  these,  and  those  in  which  she  has  a  special 
advantage  because  of  raw  material,  and  the  total 
dwindles  to  insignificance.  Take  away  also  those 
of  a  nature  we  do  not  care  to  make  and  the  re- 
mainder diminishes  almost  to  the  vanishing  point. 


78  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

What  Germany  is  actually  selling  us  in  many 
lines  is  well  illustrated  by  a  statement  made  by 
the  head  of  the  purchasing  department  of  one 
of  our  very  largest  firms  selling  tools  and  machin- 
ery for  a  great  variety  of  purposes.  Their  trade 
extends  to  every  country  on  the  globe  using  or 
making  tools  of  commercial  value.  He  says  of 
Germany  that  there  is  only  one  mechanics'  tool 
that  his  firm  gets  from  that  whole  empire,  and 
that  is  the  little  German  bit  of  a  cheap  quality 
that  manufacturers  in  other  countries  do  not 
care  to  make,  as  they  can  find  something  better 
to  do  with  their  plants. 

What  Does    Germany  Buy  of  Us? 

Supposing  you  were  in  Germany,  what  would  you 
find  bearing  the  earmarks  of  Uncle  Sam's  workmen? 
Typewriters,  shoe  machinery,  fine  tools,  precision 
lathes,  machine  tools  and,  in  fact,  the  best  of  a  large 
line  of  manufactures  requiring  a  high  grade  of  me- 
chanical knowledge  and  selling  at  a  high  price  per 
article.  Many  of  our  machines  found  in  German 
establishments  sell  at  from  two  thousand  to  six 
thousand  dollars  each,  while  scarcely  any  machine 
tool  of  American  make  sells  in  that  country  for 
less  than  two  hundred  dollars  How  many  dolls 
can  we  import  in  exchange  for  one  of  those  ma- 
chines? How  many  pocket  knives  can  we  get  for 


IN  EDUCATION  79 

a  typewriter  or  adding  machine?  How  many 
"Made-in-Germany"  razors  can  we  get  for  one 
safety  razor?  It  is  reported  that  our  safety  ra- 
zor manufacturers  are  making  great  headway  in 
the  German  market.  We  sell  them  enuf  agricul- 
tural implements  to  pay  for  the  cutlery ;  about  an 
even  exchange  of  automobiles,  clocks  and  watches; 
dental  goods  enuf  to  pay  for  the  philosophical  ap- 
paratus we  get  of  them.  I  need  not  suggest  that 
we  get  the  better  end  of  that  bargain. 

Add  to  the  above  a  million  dollars'  worth  of 
builders'  hardware,  saws,  tools,  etc.;  as  much  more 
for  cash  registers  and  similar  machines,  and  yet 
another  million  for  machine  tools.  Sewing  ma- 
chines and  shse  machinery  amount  to  another  mil- 
lion, while  typewriters  passed  the  million  dollar 
mark  in  1907.  With  all  these  items  we  have  yet 
another  million  dollars'  worth  of  exports  in  mis- 
cellaneous machinery  not  itemized.  All  told  we 
sell  to  Germany  $274,178,712  worth,  and  import 
from  Germany  $142,935,547  worth.  (Totals  for 
1908.)  Not  a  bad  showing  considering  the  size 
of  our  nation  and  its  many  varied  wants.  The 
question  for  the  American  people  is:  Are  these 
good  bargains?  These  dealings  indicate  that  we 
make  such  exchanges  as  we  find  profitable  and  that 
because  of  the  superior  training  or  education  of  the 
American  workman  we  are  able  to  deal  on  a  basis 
very  advantageous  to  the  American  manufacturer. 


80  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 


This   is   Not  of  the   Past 

Lest  someone  may  think  that  all  this  shipping 
of  our  manufactured  products  to  Germany  is  a 
matter  of  the  past,  we  quote  from  the  Department 
of  Commerce  and  Labor,  Special  report  on  Ger- 
man Iron  and  Steel  Industry,  1909  (page  56)  : 

"When  the  United  States  began  to  supply  itself 
with  wire  nails  of  its  own  manufacture,  that  was 
a  distinct  loss  of  trade  to  Germany,  but  the  loss 
became  much  more  acute  when  the  United  States 
invaded  the  Orinet  and  captured  a  valuable  mar- 
ket for  wire  products.  This  market  it  has  since 
held,  and  Germany  has  sought  compensation  by 
trying  to  increase  her  exports  of  other  iron  and 
steel  products  to  the  United  States.  During  the 
last  year  American  competition  has  interfered  se- 
riously with  Germany's  shipments  of  steel  sheets 
to  England. 

United    States  Increasing    Its  Exports 

"The  United  States  on  its  part  has  been  in- 
creasing most  of  its  exports  of  finished  products 
to  Germany.  In  spite  of  the  protective  tariff 
and  of  the  efforts  of  the  German  manufacturers 
to  provide  agricultural  implements,  the  impor- 
tations from  the  United  States  continue  above 


IN  EDUCATION  81 

$1,000,000  annually,  tho  some  of  them  undoubt- 
edly are  for  reshipment  to  other  continental  coun- 
tries. In  metal- working  machinery,  notwithstand- 
ing all  the  efforts  of  the  German  manufacturers  to 
provide  machine  tools  of  their  own  construction, 
and  notwithstanding  their  own  exports,  the  Amer- 
ican makers  hold  their  ground.  This  is  partly  due, 
it  is  claimed,  to  the  inability  of  the  German  man- 
ufacturers to  develop  an  inventive  spirit,  their 
chief  reliance  still  being  on  copying  American  de- 
signs. Builders'  hardware,  saws,  and  hand  tools 
also  form  a  prominent  list  of  importations." 

From  another  Daily  Consular  and  Trade  Report 
we  quote:  "The  excellence  of  many  classes  of 
American  goods  finds  foreign  markets,  even  tho 
their  cost  is  materially  greater  than  that  ot  similar 
competing  lines,  which  should  encourage  American 
manufacturers  and  exporters  generally  to  maintain 
at  all  hazards  the  present  average  high  standard 
of  American  goods." 

We  Compete  With  Germany  in  Other  Countries 

Did  space  permit,  it  could  be  shown  that  we 
are  competing  with  Germany  in  many  other  coun- 
tries in  a  similar  manner ;  that  we  are  selling  large 
quantities  of  such  articles  as  require  a  high  degree  of 
intelligence  on  the  part  of  the  workman  and  leaving 
those  of  the  cruder  sort  to  be  supplied  by  others. 


82  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

But  let  us  go  one  step  farther  and  determine 
as  nearly  as  we  can  just  what  the  conditions  are. 
The  important  question  is :  Are  the  German  work- 
men better  trained  for  their  work?  Perhaps  these 
examples  from  trade  are  not  representative  of  their 
actual  ability  or  training.  What  we  want  to  know 
is  whether  there  is  in  all  that  country  a  class  of 
workmen  in  mechanical  or  trade  lines  superior  to 
the  United  States.  That  this  question  may  be 
answered  with  certainty  seems  reasonable,  for  it 
should  be  possible  to  gather  very  reliable  data  for 
such  a  comparison. 

The  Highest  Type  of  Workmanship 

Those  familiar  with  the  trades  and  high 
grade  workmanship  along  mechanical  lines  will 
invariably  agree  with  the  statement  that  the  high- 
est type  of  workmanship  or  mechanical  ability  is 
found  in  those  lines  known  as  machine  tool  con- 
struction. If  any  nation  is  superior  to  another 
in  industrial  intelligence  it  will  be  shown  in  these 
lines.  Therefore  by  a  careful  study  of  this  one 
branch  of  manufacturing  we  may  know  with  cer- 
tainty which  nation,  if  either,  is  superior  industri- 
ally. These  tools  are  capable  of  receiving  the  most 
exacting  test;  they  are  always  thus  tested  and  the 
testing  will  be  known  by  a  class  of  people  thoro- 
ly  capable  of  passing  correct  judgment.  An  auto- 


IN  EDUCATION  83 

mobile  may  be  praised  by  one  and  condemned 
by  another  because,  possibly,  neither  party  is  ca- 
pable of  forming  a  judgment  upon  the  actual  mer- 
its of  the  machine.  An  expensive  machine  tool 
is  usually  purchased  on  the  recommendation  of  an 
expert  on  that  tool.  After  being  purchased,  the 
tool  is  sure  to  be  thoroly  tried  out  by  many  days 
of  carefully  checked  work. 

It  is  therefore  pretty  certain  that  a  thoro  study 
of  the  machine  tool  trade  will  leave  little  doubt 
as  to  which  nation  is  really  leading  in  mechani- 
cal enterprises.  Such  a  study  becomes  all  the  more 
conclusive  when,  as  in  the  present  case,  there  are 
no  definitely  determined  data  from  any  source  con- 
tradicting the  conclusions  to  which  the  machine 
tool  trade  forces  us.  The  fact  that  one  of  Ger- 
many's prominent  manufacturers,  after  a  casual 
trip  thru  our  country  in  1904  wrote  that  Germany 
had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  United  States,  is  not 
sufficient  to  settle  the  question.  These  casual  ob- 
servers are  often  good  at  making  interesting  reports, 
but  that  nation  that  shapes  its  policies  on  such 
reports  will  some  day  awake  to  find  itself  making 
dolls  and  cheap  cutlery  instead  of  the  highest  grade 
of  machinery  and  tools, 

The  report  of  our  Captain  Godfrey  L.  Garden, 
special  agent  of  the  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor,  is  definite  and  reliable  as  to  which 
nation,  Germany  or  the  United  States,  is  really 


84  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

leading  in  mechanical  enterprises.  Our  people 
should  be  proud  of  the  fact  that  we  can  send 
abroad  a  man  so  generous  and  yet  so  painstaking 

and    exact    in    his    investigations a    gentleman 

not  only  willing  to  give  all  countries  and  all 
manufacturers  their  just  dues,  but  also  able  to 
recognize  products  of  other  lands  made  after  Amer- 
ican designs. 

The  findings  of  this  officer,  which  show  every 
mark  of  the  most  careful,  conscientious  and 
thoroly  competent  investigator,  are  interesting 
indeed  and  ought  to  be  printed  in  large  type  for 
the  benefit  of  some  of  our  countrymen. 

Not  only  do  his  reports  bear  the  marks  of  the 
most  exact  investigations,  but  they  are  being 
continually  substantiated  and  emphasized  by  re- 
ports thru  the  daily  and  other  official  reports  of 
our  consular  service.  I  feel  that  we  may  there- 
fore take  his  statements  as  thoroly  reliable,  and 
base  our  conclusions  upon  them.  The  entire  re- 
ports are  interesting  and  valuable.  For  our  pur- 
pose I  will  make  use  of  but  a  few  typical  passages. 

United   States  Has    Led  the   World 

From  the  introduction  we  quote,*   "In  the  man- 
ufacture of  high  grade  machine  tools  the  United 

*  Machine  Tool  Trade  in  Germany,  France,  Switzerland,  Italy 
and  United  Kingdom. 


IN    EDUCATION  85 

States  in  the  past  decade  and  a  half  has  easily  led 
the  world.  During  much  of  this  period  the  enor- 
mous demands  of  the  home  market  have  taxed  to 
the  utmost  the  output  capacity  of  many  American 
manufacturing  plants,  and  the  foreign  orders  in 
these  circumstances  have  necessarily  suffered.  De- 
spite, however,  the  insistence  of  the  domestic  field 
the  exports  of  machine  tools  from  the  United  States 
has  each  year  steadily  increased,  but  this  increase 
has  been  due,  not  so  much  to  the  efforts  of  Ameri- 
can manufacturers  in  the  foreign  market  as  to  the 
recognition  abroad  of  the  inherent  merits  of  the 
best  grade  of  American-built  tools. 

"Broadly  speaking,  the  best  grades  of  American 
machine  tools  excel  both  in  design  and  workman- 
ship, and  in  the  accuracy  of  working  results,  the 
foreign-built  tools.'7 

These  are  rather  strong  statements.  Let  us 
now  consider  some  of  the  facts  upon  which  these 
conclusions  are  based.  One  of  the  first  plants 
visited  was  a  machine  tool  works  in  Berlin.  Cap- 
tain Garden,  in  concluding  his  report  on  this  visit, 
says,  "While  the  Loewe  managers  naturally  rate 
their  own  products  high,  it  is  most  interesting  to 
note  that  they  concede  the  most  advanced  form 
of  chucking  machines,  radial  drills,  upright  drills, 
circular  and  universal  grinding  machines,  planers 
and  the  bevel-gear  shaping  machines  are  to  be  found 
in  America." 


86  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

Another  machine  shop  visited  is  apparently 
considered  one  of  the  very  best  in  Germany.  This 
firm  is  reported  as  doing  conspicuously  good  work 
on  milling  machines.  The  most  interesting  part 
of  the  report  is  that  the  firm  controls  and  man- 
ufacturer these  machines  under  American  patents, 
There  is  also  a  long  list  of  machine  tools  of  Amer- 
ican make  found  in  these  works. 

Another  firm,  evidently  opposed,  on  patriotic 
principles,  to  using  any  foreign-made  tools,  is 
making  a  specialty  of  a  machine,  no  doubt  largely 
copied  from  a  leading  American  design,  and 
is  also  using  American-made  grinding  machines. 
Yet  another  plant,  using  a  few  American  machine 
tools,  is  especially  favorable  to  our  measuring  tools, 

Germans   Trained  in   the  United  States 

On  the  outskirts  of  Berlin  is  a  plant  that  is 
exceptional  both  in  equipment  and  management. 
Mr.  Garden  says,  "It  would  be  refreshing  for  some 
of  our  American  manufacturers  who  believe  that 
we  alone  understand  the  term  'shop  efficiency,'  to 
take  a  walk  thru  these  shops,  and  I  believe  that  a 
glimpse  of  the  workings  of  this  particular  plant 
would  cause  a  realization  of  what  there  is  ahead 
of  America  in  foreign  competition.  To  make  this 
clearer,  it  should  be  known  that  the  methods  in 
vogue  at  Borsig's  are  practically  those  followed  in 


IN  EDUCATION  87 

similar  large  works  in  the  United  States.  Herr 
Neuhaus,  who  has  charge  of  the  shop  work  at 
Borsig7s,  spent  three  years,  I  understand,  at  the 
Allis-Chalmers  plant  in  Milwaukee,  and  I  learn 
that  this  same  gentleman  while  there  had  much 
to  do  with  the  designing  of  the  big  Allis-Chalmers 
engine  which  is  now  in  operation  at  the  Ludwig- 
Loew  works  in  Berlin." 

After  giving  a  list  of  American  firms  represented 
in  the  machine  tool  equipment,  follows  the  state- 
ment, "Only  American  pneumatic  tools  are  used." 
This  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  this  firm  has 
an  exceptionally  accurate  method  of  testing  the 
efficiency  of  such  tools,  these  tests  showing  con- 
clusively the  inferiority  of  the  German  tools.  Yet 
another  concern,  having  its  quota  of  American 
machine  tools,  uses  exclusively  American  ovens  in 
its  tool  hardening  department. 

German  Uses  Only  American  Tools 

In  a  summing  up  of  this  chapter,  Captain  Car- 
den  states:  "A  German  manufacturer  of  machine 
tools,  when  recently  building  a  new  shop,  equipped 
it  thruout  with  American  machine  tools.  He  did 
not  even  draw  on  his  own  makes.  These  latter 
statements  are  facts  which  are  not  generally  known 
in  the  trade."  And  "The  best  American  machine 
tools,  and  all  new  and  special  tools  possessing  merit 


88  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

other  than  mere  ingenuity,  will  find  a  market  in 
Europe."  On  page  64  of  the  report  we  read:  "I 
found  in  Soligen  a  firm  which  in  previous  years 
has  enjoyed  a  most  enviable  reputation  for  itfe  high 
standard  of  saws,  and  yet  I  was  informed  at  this 
establishment  that  its  German  business  has  been 
practically  ruined  by  an  American  saw  made  at 
Philadelphia."  Are  not  these  facts  enuf  to  convince 
the  most  skeptical  that  the  American  is  undoubt- 
edly in  the  lead  and  with  reasonable  care  likely  to 
continue  at  the  head? 

American   Tools  in  France 

Should  we  go  to  France,  where  there  is  a  more 
even  chance  with  Germany  for  American  tools,  we 
will  find  yet  more  to  encourage  us.  On  the  first 
page  of  the  report  on  "Machine  Tool  Trade  in 
France,"  we  learn  of  one  firm  having  "no  less  than 
forty-five  Brown  &  Sharp  machines."  Then  fol- 
lows a  long  list  of  other  American  firms  represent- 
ed. 

In  another  French  plant  was  found  many  A- 
merican  tools,  but  most  interesting  was  the  finding 
of  a  Gray  (American)  planer  and  a  copy  of  the 
same  make  made  by  a  German  firm  and  the  satis- 
faction of  knowing  that  the  German  copy  was  rec- 
ognized as  inferior  to  the  American  original. 

But  why  multiply  these  statements  that  are 


IN  EDUCATION  89 

so  nearly  uniformly  in  favor  of  American  tools? 
One  large  French  concern  uses  1,743  machine  tools, 
of  which  1,300  are  of  American  manufacture.  The 
remainder,  largely  for  the  rougher  work,  are  from 
Germany,  France  and  other  countries. 

Competition   in  England 

In  England,  Germany  does  not  appear  to  be 
able  to  keep  American  goods  out.  Some  catalogs 
of  leading  tool  firms  of  England  that  I  have  at 
hand  show  large  lines  of  American  tools.  I  am  un- 
able to  find  any  tools  of  German  make  listed.  Is 
this  no  iiidex  of  the  industrial  rank  of  the  two 
nations?  When  we  pause  to  consider  the  fact  that 
the  world  at  large  is  unworked  territory  for  the  fine 
tool  trade  and  that  the  needs  of  the  nations  in  this 
line  are  beyond  the  possibility  of  our  manufacturers 
to  supply  for  many  years  to  come,  should  we  not 
hesitate  to  adopt  a  system  of  schools  that  has  not 
yet  given  one  single  high  grade  mechanics'  tool  to 
the  world? 

As  we  enter  the  English  machine  tool  plants 
we  are  met  with  conditions  similar  to  those  found 
in  France;  American  machines  taking  the  lead 
and  German  machines  of  German  designs  or  im- 
itations of  American  designs,  taking  second  place. 
To  list  the  American  machine  tools  in  foreign  coun- 
tries wcvild  be  to  make  an  almost  complete 


90  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

directory  of  our  first-class  shops  and  their  products. 
To  know  that  these  tools  are  in  other  lands  because 
of  the  superior  qualities  given  them  by  the  American 
workman  is  a  matter  of  national  pride. 

Conditions    Similar  in   Other    Countries 

The  reports  cover  several  other  countries  and 
with  like  results.  The  conclusion  that  must  fol- 
low is  that  Germany  is  a  nation  of  copyists  and 
not  likely  to  ever  lead  in  high-grade  mechanical 
lines.  Belgium,  tho  too  small  to  become  a  serious 
competitor,  undoubtedly  is  exhibiting  more  of  the 
spirit  of  independent  advance  and  far  more  likely 
to  be  our  rival  in  grade  of  workmanship  and  de- 
sign than  any  other  European  nation.  Russia  has 
a  plant  that  may  in  time  compete  with  us  but 
this  is  rather  a  compliment  to  our  country  and 
our  schools  for  it  is  a  thoroly  American  plant, 
except  the  workmen.  The  moving  spirit  is  an  Amer- 
ican, American  trained,  and  the  entire  business  is 
run  on  American  lines  and  largely  with  American 
machinery. 

America   Superior  in  Other   Lines 

Although  the  machine  tool  trade  undoubtedly 
is  sufficient  to  answer  our  question,  yet  we  will  find 
abundant  evidence  of  American  superiority  in 


IN    EDUCATION  91 

many  other  lines.  Although  the  first  printing  press 
was  invented  in  a  foreign  land  long  before  the  soli- 
tudes of  this  continent  had  been  disturbed  by  in- 
dustrial life,  yet  long  before  we  could  be  called  a 
manufacturing  nation,  we  gave  to  the  world  the 
"  Washington  Press"  that  has  remained  the  best  of 
its  class,  and  have  continued  to  lead  in  most  of  the 
improvements  since.  An  American  press  manufac- 
turer claims  that  the  sun  never  sets  on  his  presses 
as  they  are  sold  the  world  over  in  competition  with 
the  best  productions  of  England,  Germany  and 
France.  It  is  no  doubt  true  that  this  can  be  said 
of  many  of  our  styles  of  presses. 

Statements  showing  the  superiority  of  American 
goods  might  be  brought  together  in  numbers  to  fill 
a  volume.  America  has  led  and  is  leading  and 
will  lead,  because  of  the  superior  type  of  intelligence 
of  its  workmen.  Our  laws,  our  society,  our  inter- 
mingling of  peoples  all  tend  to  a  freedom  of  thot 
that  yields  an  especially  acute  and  progressive  type 
of  manhood.  No  man,  and  especially  no  mechanic 
who  has  felt  the  impulse  of  our  civilization,  feels 
bound  to  any  system  or  method  of  activity  because 
others  did  or  do  follow  it.  The  very  air  suggests 
improvement  and  when  our  manufacturer  has  made 
a  great  iron  planer  that  beats  the  world,  he  is  as 
restless  as  ever  and  yet  "sails  on  and  on"  until  he 
makes  a  machine  that  other  nations  cannot  even 
duplicate  after  he  has  made  it.  Should  you  visit 


92  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

the  works  where  the  "Gray  Planers"  are  made  you 
would  find  today  no  less  effort  at  improvement 
than  in  the  past,  and  when  the  German  mechanic 
has  made  a  copy  that  will  pass  for  equal  to  the 
"Gray"  he  will  still  find  his  neighbors  importing 
'Gray  Planers"  with  features  of  which  he  has  not 
yet  learned. 

The  Chief  Obstacle 

The  chief  obstacle  to  our  sales  abroad  is  not  the 
inferiority  of  our  products  but  rather  the  lack  on  the 
part  of  the  foreigner  to  appreciate  the  superior 
quality  of  American  goods.  One  of  the  greatest 
aids  to  the  extension  of  American  trade  would  be 
the  establishing  of  schools  in  foreign  lands  to  teach 
the  use  of  and  merits  of  American  manufactures. 

We  Need  Not  Fear 

We  need  not  fear  losing  our  trade  because  of 
other  manufacturers  copying  our  products.  There 
are  two  sides  to  all  questions,  even  to  this  one  of 
copying  American  products.  It  not  only  proves 
beyond  any  possible  argument  that  we  are  the 
intellectual  leaders  in  mechanical  lines,  but  it  also 
shows  that  the  Old  World  is  awakening  and 
taking  on  somewhat  of  the  American  characteris- 
tic of  change  and  inquiry.  Could  a  nation  copy 


IN  EDUCATION  93 

and  stop,  returning  to  its  conservatism  after  copy- 
ing our  best  machines,  then  would  their  markets 
be  closed  to  us  indeed.  But  one  may  as  well  at- 
tempt to  hold  back  the  torrent  after  the  dam  has 
broken  away  as  to  attempt  to  stop  a  people  from 
continuing  to  want  the  latest  and  best  after  once 
thoroly  breaking  up  the  old  conservative  idea 
that  what  has  been  is  good  enuf.  To  America 
this  means  that  copying  of  our  machines  will  lead 
only  to  a  greater  inquiry  for  the  best  and  a  larger 
use  of  our  products,  and  always  of  the  later  and 
more  profitable  productions  with  an  ever-widening 
and  increasing  sale  for  American  products,  pro- 
viding we  continue  to  keep  the  American  spirit 
and  ideals  of  progress. 

Therefore,  what  can  we  conclude  but  that  the 
German  workmen,  as  a  class,  are  the  victims  of 
their  own  schooling  rather  than  the  product  of 
initiative  in  independent  and  progressive  study; 
that  the  imperialistic  atmosphere  which  pervades 
all  activities,  even  the  special  schools,  gives  to 
them  a  form  and  discipline  that  makes  of  the 
German  youth  a  follower  and  respecter  of  that 
which  has  been,  rather  than  a  progressive  work- 
man full  of  initiative  and  ambition  to  excel.  We 
can  form  no  other  jndgment  than  that  such  influ- 
ence as  their  schools  exert,  tends  to  make  the 
nation  something  less  than  the  best  in  spirit  and 
action  in  the  industrial  world. 


94  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 


Preserve   the   American   Type 

Let  us  not  frighten  ourselves  over  what  others 
are  doing,  but  bend  our  energies  to  preserve  and 
magnify  the  American  type  of  workman.  To  do 
this  we  must  keep  American  ideals.  And  of  all 
things  American,  no  other  is  so  distinctly  our  very 
own  as  the  free  public  common  school  where  every 
boy  may  start  out  on  a  common  level  to  work 
out  his  own  destiny  with  no  shadow  from  king  or 
aristocracy  to  obscure  the  pure  light  of  his  chosen 
star.  Instead  of  sending  over  to  Germany  trades- 
men or  men  of  classical  education  to  study  their 
"trade  schools,"  send  the  scientific  mechanic  who 
is  capable  of  judging  the  actual  conditions  and 
differences  and  who  can  bring  back  information 
that  will  aid  in  advancing  our  own  scientific  know- 
ledge of  working  materials.  Such  men  are  ob- 
tainable in  almost  any  large  manufacturing  plant 
and  their  investigations  would  be  of  the  greatest 
value. 

Follow  American  Practice 

We  must  not  fail  to  note  that  not  only  do 
European  shops  of  the  better  class  draw  largely 
upon  America  for  tools,  but  that  they  also  follow 
American  practice  in  factory  management.  In 


IN  EDUCATION  95 

many  cases  the  active  influence  is  a  man  of  supe- 
rior type  who  not  only  has  all  his  native  country 
could  give,  but  has  also  a  training,  the  result  of 
years  of  work  and  study  by  actual  employment  in 
American  shops.  In  Belgium  there  is  a  manufac- 
turing plant  that  appears  to  have  more  of  the  real 
American  spirit  and  ideals  than  are  found  in  any 
other  plant  in  all  Europe.  Of  this  concern  Cap- 
tain Garden  says,  'The  Mellotte  equipment,  com- 
posed as  it  is,  almost  exclusively  of  American 
machine  tools,  and  operated  on  American  lines, 
gives  the  Remicourt  shops  practically  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  an  American  plant  plus  the  further 
advantages  offered  by  a  lower  wage  scale.  Melotte 
carries  his  American  ideas  to  such  an  extent  that 
nearly  all  the  office  furniture  is  of  American  or- 
gin.  The  desks  are  for  the  most  part  of  the  Mally 
type,  and  the  Warren  Manufacturing  Company,  of 
Chicago,  has  supplied  most  of  the  boxes  used  for 
filing  away  small  tool  parts.  An  American  card- 
index  system  is  in  use." 

Germany   May  Study   Our   Schools 

The  success  of  this  plant  is  but  a  type  or  fore- 
cast of  what  might  be  accomplished  by  German 
concerns  should  they  enter  fully  into  the  Ameri- 
can spirit,  and  come  to  realize  in  all  its  force  what 
American  methods  and  machines  mean  in  the  com- 


96  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

mercial  manufactory.  Perhaps  they  will  not  only 
buy  our  machine  tools  and  send  representatives 
over  to  work  in  our  shops  and  study  our  methods, 
but  also  do  as  Belgium  has  already  done,  study 
our  schools.  As  I  look  on  a  copy  of  the  report  of 
the  Honorable  Omer  Buyse  on  American  indust- 
rial education,  published  by  the  Belgian  govern- 
ment, it  seems  to  me  a  remarkable  coincidence 
that  the  'nation  gathering  this  data  and  publishing 
such  a  voluminous  report  should  show  such  mark- 
ed signs  of  leading  all  Europe  in  the  spirit  of  mod- 
ern manufacturing.  Can  it  be  possible  that  we 
must  go  to  Belgium  to  discover  what  it  is  in 
America  that  makes  us  the  copied  of  all  the  indus- 
trial world?  Is  it  not  possible  that  we  are  like 
the  absent-minded  grandsire  who  searched  and 
searched  for  his  spectacles,  but  without  the  least 
success,  until  informed  that  he  was  looking  thru 
them.  Perhaps  we  will  discover  that  we  are  search- 
ing for  a  system  of  education  while  possessing  one 
that  has  already  asserted  itself  as  the  greatest  of 
all  and  the  very  power  by  which  or  thru  which  we 
are  making  the  search  and  seeing  such  great  things 
abroad  that  are  really  only  the  reflection  of  what 
we  have  accomplished. 

[Since  the  above  was  written  there  have  been 
published  various  reports  confirming  these  views. 
The  recent  war  has  done  much  to  disillusion  us 
in  regard  to  the  merits  of  German  schools.] 


IN  EDUCATION  97 


Imitation  a  Confession   of  Weakness 

In  contrast  to  the  German  manufacturers'  aspi- 
rations and  what  they  are  doing  notice  the  following 
quotation  from  an  American  machine  tool  circular : 
"We  hold  to  the  belief  that  imitation  is  an  indi- 
cation of  weakness  and  that  a  firm,  seeking  success 
in  a  large  sense,  must  possess  originality."  The 
result  is  that  this  firm,  tho  but  a  few  years  in  busi- 
ness, has  advanced  rapidly  in  this  country  and 
their  machines  are  known  and  used  in  many  foreign 
lands,  and  are  acknowledged  superior  to  any  ma- 
chines for  a  similar  purpose  made  in  Germany  or 
any  other  foreign  country.  This  is  indeed  a  typi- 
cal statement  that  well  illustrates  the  attitude  of 
the  American  manufacturers  and  workmen,  for  not 
a  few  of  the  men  who  today  are  the  leaders  in 
manufacturing  took  the  motto  of  "no  imitation" 
as  workmen  and  because  of  it  are  in  their  present 
positions. 

Develop   Our  Schools  Along  American   Lines 

Perhaps  after  all  we  shall  find  that  our  problem 
is  not  to  import  some  educational  theories  to  be 
patched  onto  our  great  and  original  free  public 
schools,  but  rather  to  cut  away  some  foreign 
patches  and  strengthen  our  schools  by  develop- 


98  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

ing  them  along  purely  American  lines  with  pure 
American  ideals  as  our  guide  and  ambition.  That 
there  is  a  cry  against  the  present  products  of  our 
public  schools  no  one  will  deny.  That  with  the 
schools  thru  which  the  present  generation  of 
workmen  came  we  have  surpassed  the  world  is 
quite  as  evident.  Then  let  us  set  hard  at  work 
to  know,  not  guess,  at  where  the  weakness  lies 
and  work  out  our  problem  like  true  Americans, 
reaching  out  for  the  larger  things  by  holding  to 
the  ideals  of  the  manufacturer  who  says,  "We 
hold  to  the  belief  that  imitation  is  a  confession 
of  weakness  and  that  a  firm  seeking  success  in  a 
large  sense  must  possess  originality.'7 


What  is  a  Liberal  Education 


So  much  is  being  said  about  practical  educa- 
tion that  it  may  be  well  to  pause  for  a  moment 
to  try  to  renew  our  acquaintance  with  liberal 
education.  Perhaps  after  our  long  time  spent  in 
contemplation  of  the  newer  we  may  see  the  old 
in  a  new  light.  Perhaps  we  shall  discover  that 
we  have,  all  this  time,  been  looking  at  the  same 
thing. 

It  is  not  at  nil  impossible  that  the  reason  for 
these  newer  forms  of  education,  or  new  names  for 
old  forms,  is  simply  the  necessary  protest  against 
calling  an  education  liberal  that  is  only  the  liberal 
education  of  another  and  bygone  period  in  the 
development  of  civilization,  and  not  at  all  a  liber- 
al education  of  to-day. 

It  does  not  seem  necessary  to  argue  that  what 
has  been  a  liberal  education  for  a  past  generation 
cannot  be  for  today.  We  have  only  to  cite  some 
factor  in  what  one  may  set  up  as  a  standard  for 
such  an  education,  and  then  trace  this  factor  back 
to  its  rise  as  a  part  of  human  possessions,  to  es- 
tablish the  fact  that  the  definition  of  a  liberal 
education  must  be  progressive.  Our  present  task 
is,  therefore,  not  to  determine  what  has  been  a 


100  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

liberal  education,  not  what  it  may  be,  but  rather, 
what  it  is  at  the  present  time. 

Education   is   Progressive 

Our  next  step  may  be  to  call  attention  to  the 
fact  that  if  this  matter  of  education  is  progressive, 
then  to  argue  that  certain  elements  have  consti- 
tuted a  liberal  education  at  some  time  in  the  past, 
is  also  to  argue  that  they  cannot  constitute  a  com- 
plete liberal  education  of  the  present.  We  must 
either  take  the  position  that  the  factors  of  a  liberal 
education  are  fixed  or  we  must  admit  that  the 
liberal  education  of  today  must  represent  develop- 
ments of  civilization  that  did  not  exist  yesterday. 

When  this  basis  of  argument  is  settled  our 
problem  is  one  of  a  search  after  those  things  brot 
about  thru  the  progress  of  the  race  that  are  suit- 
able factors  of  a  liberal  education.  We  cannot 
search  and  say  that  none  can  be  found.  To  fail 
to  find  some  new  elements  is  only  to  admit  our 
weakness.  The  very  fact  of  progess  establishes 
the  fact  that  such  material  exists. 

Must    Maintain  its   Relations 

Then  again  we  may  argue  that  if  a  liberal  ed- 
ucation is  to  Jiave  j  any  bearing  upon  one's  rela- 
tion to  society,  then  as  there  is  progress  in  society, 


IN  EDUCATION 


the  form,  degree,  or  factors  of  the  education  must 
change  in  order  to  maintain  that  relation.  It  is 
not  necessary  for  us  to  quibble  over  the  fine  points 
in  a  definition  of  education  of  any  sort.  Make 
the  definition  what  you  will,  so  that  it  is  at  all 
reasonable  for  any  specified  time  and  it  is  inevit- 
able that  there  will  be  a  necessity  for  a  change  from 
time  to  time  as  the  conditions  to  which  it  is  to 
respond  change. 

How  must  these  factors  change?  There  can  be 
but  one  answer  to  this  question,  and  that  is: 
They  must  change  in  harmony  with  the  progress 
with  which  they  are  to  keep  pace.  There  can  be 
no  guesswork  or  theorizing  about  what  changes 
are  to  be  made.  To  theorize  or  experiment  in 
regard  to  the  fundamentals  of  these  changes  is  to 
admit  incompetence  to  deal  with  the  problem. 

Patching  no   Remedy 

Again  —  as  civilization  does  not  develop  by 
accretion  but  by  expansion,  we  cannot  meet  this 
growth  properly  by  patching  onto  the  system  or 
ideals  of  education  of  yesterday.  No  doubt  it  is 
at  this  point  that  our  attempts  to  improve  our 
schools  have  parted  from  the  possibility  of  suc- 
cess. No  doubt  this  artificial  method  of  en- 
largement has  caused  not  only  a  failure  to  pro- 
duce a  successful  growth,  but  has  also  led  to  the 


.MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 


most  inefficient  methods  of  studying  the  needs 
and  the  most  erroneous  selection  of  material.  No 
doubt  the  method  of  accretion,  the  patching  on 
of  fads  and  frills,  is  the  easier  way  of  present- 
ing an  apparent  growth,  but  as  none  of  the  vital 
life-blood  of  the  system  ever  circulates  in  these 
patches  no  matter  how  tightly  stuck  on,  they  soon 
become  only  a  burden  and  waste.  This  has  often 
been  observed  by  each  one  who  has  made  any 
considerable  study  of  the  present  attempt  to  bring 
our  schools  up  to  a  satisfactory  present  standard. 

A   Definition 

May  we  not  then  take  as  a  definition  of  a 
liberal  education,  that  education  which  is  to  the 
civilization  of  today  what  the  liberal  education  of 
yesterday  was  to  the  civilization  of  its  day.  Does 
not  this  definition  define  fully  for  our  purpose 
and  provide  a  standard  for  all  who  may  wish 
to  assist  in  the  present  efforts  for  the  univer- 
sally desired  better  education?  No  matter  to 
what  school  of  philosophy  or  pedagogy  one 
may  belong,  the  definition  will  be  helpful  and 
point  the  true  method  of  procedure.  Take 
what  view  one  may  of  what  a  liberal  education 
should  be,  determine  its  factors  for  yesterday, 
and  then  advance  it  to  present  conditions.  If 
it  cannot  be  moved  up  in  harmony  with  the 


IN  EDUCATION  103 

advance  in  civilization,  it  never  was  in  harmony 
and  never  could  be  considered  as  liberal.  In  our 
consideration  of  what  was  a  liberal  education  we 
must  begin  far  enuf  removed  from  the  present  to 
eliminate  the  influence  of  present-day  discussions. 
With  a  clear  idea  of  the  liberal  education  of  yes- 
terday we  may  then  proceed  to  determine  the  es- 
sential for  today. 

The   Factors  in   Progress 

In  what  has  been  our  progress?  We  need  not 
attempt  to  determine  all  these  factors.  There  is 
no  serious  disagreement  in  regard  to  these  matters. 
To  establish  the  general  principles  would  set  at 
work  an  army  of  individuals  thoroly  competent  to 
work  out  the  details.  The  difficulty  at  present  is, 
that  we  do  not  admit  the  principle  that  this  prog- 
ress must  control  the  advance  in  education  and  de- 
termine the  selection  of  the  subject-matter  which 
our  schools  should  use.  A  very  casual  observation 
or  the  most  searching  study  of  the  question  will 
alike  reveal  that  those  who  control  our  education- 
al institutions  and  systems  hold  to  the  idea  in 
both  theory  and  practice  that  the  factors  of  a 
liberal  education  are  a  rather  fixed  quantity  and 
that  to  change  by  assimilating  new  factors  is  to 
weaken  rather  than  strengthen  the  result.  It  is 
not  many  years  since  an  elaborate  argument  for 


104  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

this  view  was  made  by  a  thoroly  representative 
person,  and  one  need  not  search  long  in  current 
publications  to  find  similar  arguments. 

A  False   Assumption 

What  are  all  these  attempts  at  a  dual  system  of 
schools  but  the  result  of  treating  liberal  education 
as  unable  to  deal  with  the  progressive  factors  of 
society?  Those  who  advocate  the  special  schools 
may  not  have  considered  the  problem  from  this 
point  of  view,  yet  there  is  no  denying  the  fact. 
We  cannot  deny  that  the  theory  of  special  schools 
is  based  upon  the  assumption  that  civilization  has 
developed  factors  requiring  an  educational  effort 
outside  of  the  possibilities  of  a  liberal  education. 
This  is  simply  stating  either  that  there  is  a  con- 
stantly increasing  number  of  persons  incapable  of 
receiving  a  liberal  education,  which  is  simply  say- 
ing that  we  are  going  to  the  bad;  or,  that  we  have 
become  too  good  to  make  use  of  a  liberal  educa- 
tion. Those  who  believe  that  we  are  degenerating 
as  a  people  may  settle  their  notion  with  their  bad 
digestion.  Those  who  believe  we  are  advancing 
and  yet  that  a  liberal  education  cannot  meet  all 
requirements  of  the  present  as  it  has  of  the  past, 
have  the  burden  of  proof  upon  themselves. 

The  first  step  in  advocating  special  schools  is 
to  prove  that  we  have  developed  a  condition  that 


IN  EDUCATION  105 

regular  schools  cannot  meet.     This  will   be  diffi- 
cult considering  what  has  been  accomplished. 

A   Liberal  Education   Sufficient 

I,  for  one,  believe  that  a  liberal  education 
has  been  sufficient,  is  now  sufficient,  and  always 
will  be  sufficient  in  so  far  as  the  public  schools 
are  concerned  with  the  education  of  all  the  chil- 
dren. Private  institutions  of  learning  have  existed 
parallel  to  the  public  schools  and  no  doubt  always 
will  be  patronized  by  some  for  certain  reasons  with 
which  the  public  is  not  concerned.  Then  why  all 
this  cry  for  practical  education,  trade  schools,  spe- 
cial schools,  and  the  like?  Simply  because  our  pub- 
lic schools  have  long  since  ceased  to  give  a  lib- 
eral education. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  at  this  time  to  discuss  the 
details  of  a  liberal  education.  I  wish  only  to  call 
attention  to  the  principle  by  which  these  details 
must  be  determined,  knowing  that  persons  in  differ- 
ent environments,  differently  educated  and  of  dif- 
ferent temperaments  will  apply  them  differently, 
and  that  a  proper  application  of  these  principles 
must  lead  to  the  establishing  of  a  really  liberal  ed- 
ucation by  all  these  various  classes.  Uniformity 
in  details  is  neither  desirable  nor  possible,  but  uni- 
formity in  the  general  application  of  the  funda- 
mental principle  is  not  only  possible,  but  essential. 


106  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 


Where    We    Have    Failed 

Then  wherein  have  we  failed?  In  not  recogniz- 
ing the  fundamental  principle  that  a  liberal  edu- 
cation of  any  time  or  period  is  the  outgrowth  of 
the  civilization  of  that  period.  We  have  failed  to 
recognize  that  the  liberal  education  of  today  is 
the  liberal  education  of  yesterday,  grown  out  by 
internal  expansion  to  the  things  of  today.  We 
have  acted  upon  the  belief  that  education  must 
become  bigger  and  bigger  in  bulk  and  to  accom- 
plish this  have  stuck  on,  not  only  some  of  the 
things  that  are  the  outgrowth  of  progress,  but 
also  many  things  that  belong  to  the  dead  and 
buried  past;  things  that  have  many  times  been 
used  in  attempts  to  improve  education  and  al- 
ways have  failed.  Failing  to  apply  the  rule  that 
in  civilization's  progress  must  be  found  the  new 
factors,  we  have  lost  entirely  our  means  of  selection, 
and  have  found  ourselves  quite  as  active  and  ear- 
nest in  attempting  to  annex  things  of  the  past  as 
of  the  present.  We  have  so  completely  lost  our 
standard  of  measurement  that  substantially  every 
acquisition  and  activity  of  the  race,  past  as  well  as 
modern,  is  advocated  as  an  essential  of  some  form 
of  schoolwork.  Our  ideal  of  bigness  has  known 
no  bounds  and  everything  that  could  add  to  size 
or  bulk  has  been  annexed  by  some  means  to  some 


IN  EDUCATION  107 

part  of  the  curriculum. 

No  sooner  has  someone  found  a  subject  that 
they  think  of  use  to  a  certain  class  than  they  ask 
for  a  law  making  it  a  part  of  the  school  work.  I 
need  not  take  space  here  to  enumerate  the  subjects 
taught  that  everyone  will  admit  are  not  of  value  to 
every  pupil.  Some  are  not  of  value  to  any  pupil. 
Should  I  compile  such  a  list  each  one  who  reads 
this  article  would  praise  me  for  including  most  of 
the  names  and  censure  me  for  including  others.  Not 
one  subject  could  I  mention  that  has  not  both  its 
friends  and  foes  among  prominent  school  people.  As 
a  whole  our  curriculum  is  made  up  much  as  some 
appropriation  bills  in  Congress,  in  which  each  mem- 
ber asks  for  the  insertion  of  his  pet  measure.  All  pass 
in  a  lump  because  no  one  dares  to  oppose  another's 
measure  for  fear  of  losing  his  own,  altho  little  good 
can  be  said  about  the  bill  as  a  whole.  I  do  not  care 
to  make  a  list,  but  suggest  that  each  reader  make  a 
list  of  the  subjects  taught  in  his  own  school  and 
then  pencil  off  those  thot  to  be  useless  or  injurious. 

Patching,  Not   Growing 

I  believe  the  cause  of  this  abnormally  and  un- 
scientifically arranged  curriculum  is  that  we  have 
tried  to  patch  on  rather  than  grow,  because  we  have 
had  no  definite  basis  of  selection  with  which  to 
keep  out  the  useless  or  harmful,  because  we  have 


108  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

failed  to  realize  that  the  fundamentals  of  educa- 
tion are  always  the  same  as  expressed  in  the  age 
for  which  the  education  is  given  and  therefore 
have  made  our  selections  of  new  material  from 
superficial  reasons  rather  than  by  the  application 
of  a  fundamental  principle.  Such  a  method  of 
selection  must  necessarily  lead  to  choices  because 
of  personal  preferences,  the  adding  of  quite  as 
much  injurious  as  helpful  material,  and  an  in- 
terminable series  of  discussions  and  plans  leading 
nowhere  in  particular.  Does  not  a  careful  con- 
sideration of  the  present  situation  indicate  that 
the  discussion  in  all  parts  of  this  country  is  at 
present  in  this  very  condition? 

Its   Application 

Without  going  further  into  the  general  subject 
let  us  now  consider  the  application  of  this  prin- 
ciple to  the  present  problem  of  "Industrial  Edu- 
cation." 

Why  is  it  that  there  is  such  a  general  demand 
for  industrial  education?  If  our  premise  is  cor- 
rect, the  answer  must  be  that  civilization  has 
advanced  beyond  our  system  of  education.  If  this 
be  true,  then  the  difficulty  is  not  the  decline  of 
apprenticeship,  but  the  advance  of  industry  which 
hae  rendered  the  apprenticeship  system  inopera- 
tive and  set  a  standard  of  requirements  for  a 


IN  EDUCATION  109 

liberal  education  which  the  schools,  as  at  pres- 
ent organized,  are  unable  to  fill. 

Decline   of    Apprenticeship 

The  decline  of  apprenticeship  might  be  discussed 
at  length  would  space  permit,  but  for  the  pres- 
ent we  must  be  content  with  the  general  state- 
ment that  it  is  the  result  of  progress  in  industry. 
It  is  not  because  employers  cannot  find  time  to 
train  apprentices  as  they  were  trained  in  the 
past,  but  because  such  a  training  as  the  typical 
apprentice  received  is  no  longer  worth  while. 
The  average  proprietor  of  a  century  ago  trained 
apprentices  because  he  found  the  training  which 
he  could  give  of  value  to  him  and  a  profitable  in- 
vestment. The  proprietor  of  today  does  not,  as 
a  rule,  train  apprentices,  because  he  has  discover- 
ed that  such  a  training  as  he  can  give  by  the  es- 
tablished methods  of  apprenticeship  does  not  as  a 
rule  produce  a  satisfactory  workman..  These  state- 
ments do  not  apply  to  such  school  shops  as  are 
maintained  by  some  employers. 

Probably  Mr.  Nasmyth  was  the  first  eminent 
engineer  employer  to  discover  that  industry  de- 
manded something  which  apprentices  did  not  get, 
and  that  some  boys  with  no  apprenticeship  pos- 
sessed a  mental  equipment  and  education  that 
made  them  superior  to  regularly  trained  appren- 


110  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

tices.  So  emphatically  did  these  boys  demonstrate 
their  superiority  over  the  apprentices  that  Mr. 
Nasmyth  avoided  employing  apprentice- trained 
boys  as  much  as  possible. 

The   Training   Needed 

We  may  now  ask,  "What  training  had  these 
boys  that  made  them  desirable  as  workmen  in 
the  employ  of  the  great  mechanic?"  The  answer 
is  simply  this:  They  belong  to  that  same  type 
of  mind  as  Henry  Maudslay,  a  type  that  the  age 
had  developed  and  expressed  by  more  or  less  nu- 
merous specimens  in  many  communities.  They 
were  the  few  type  individuals  who  represented 
the  intellectual  advance  of  the  race,  and  so  long 
as  the  higher  grades  of  industry  were  so  limited 
in  extent,  such  as  these  were  fairly  sufficient  to 
supply  the  demand.  Were  this  type  of  industry 
static  rather  than  dynamic  the  few  type  individ- 
uals would  always  be  sufficient  to  supply  its  limit- 
ed needs.  But  this  high  type  of  industry  develops 
by  artificial  stimuli  to  such  an  extent  as  to  re- 
quire a  large  percentage  of  similarly  qualified 
workers,  while  the  natural  development  of  those 
able  to  fill  the  positions  proceeds  but  slowly. 
Consequently,  the  demand  exceeds  the  supply  and 
the  lack  of  qualified  individuals  finally  reaches 
such  a  stress  as  to  be  a  public  problem.  This  is 


IN    EDUCATION  111 

where  we  are  today  and  are  told  that  the  remedy 
is  to  re-establish  the  apprenticeship  system,  either 
by  establishing  trade  schools,  or  by  patching  on 
to  our  present  education  by  compelling  our  young 
people  to  attend  school  at  night  or  part  days  after 
entering  industry.  In  none  of  these  schemes  is 
there  any  stated  purpose  to  develop  the  higher 
type  of  individual  required  by  industry,  nor  is 
there  claimed  to  be  used  any  subject  matter  dif- 
fering in  essentials  from  that  of  the  regular  schools 
plus  an  apprenticeship  training.  A  somewhat  ex- 
tended inquiry  both  by  correspondence  and  by 
personal  visits  to  our  most  noted  public  schools 
of  this  class  has  fully  convinced  the  writer  that 
the  curricula  of  substantially  all  these  schools 
consist  of  a  combination  in  varying  proportions  of 
these  two  elements.  If  it  be  true  that  the  real 
problem  as  indicated  by  our  definition  is  not  the 
training  of  apprentices  or  establishing  of  trade  re- 
actions, but  of  a  later  type  of  education,  then  the 
present  scheme  for  these  special  schools  is  doomed 
to  failure  in  its  attempts  to  aid  industry,  quite 
as  much  as  has  been  the  failure  of  the  common 
and  unscientific  manual  training  work  to  yield  an 
industrial  value.  The  writer  does  not  wish  to  be 
understood  as  questioning  the  value  of  the  various 
efforts  now  being  made  under  the  name  of  night 
schools,  extension  schools,  etc.,  to  teach  boys  and 
girls  the  simple  fundamentals  of  a  common  school 


112  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

edu3ation, —  to  teach  these  young  people  what 
many  of  them  studied  for  long  years  in  the  com- 
mon schools  but  failed  to  learn. 

Present  Efforts  Not   Satisfactory 

At  first  thot  the  writer  may  appear  to  be  over- 
confident of  the  application  of  this  principle  and  to 
be  asserting  a  personal  opinion  against  established 
facts.  A  careful  inquiry  will,  however,  reveal  that 
very  few  if  any  of  the  present  attempts  at  pub- 
lic industrial  education  are  satisfactory  to  their 
friends  and  none  are  without  the  criticisms  of 
some  of  those  high  in  educational  circles,  all  of 
which  should  keep  us  in  search  of  some  fundamen- 
tal principles  big  enuf  to  control  the  situation  and 
broad  eunf  to  permit  each  individual  to  proceed 
toward  the  goal  without  doing  violence  to  any  well 
considered  ideals  of  public  education.  Does  not 
the  definition  here  given  of  a  liberal  education 
supply  this  principle? 

Two  Classes 

Progress  is  the  one  word  that  expresses  the 
cause  of  all  the  trouble,  and  therefore  it  is  by 
advancing  a  larger  number  of  individuals  toward 
the  front  rank  of  intelligence  that  we  shall  be 
able  to  meet  the  demand.  Those  of  large  natur- 


IN  EDUCATION  113 

al  endowment  will  then,  on  leaving  school,  be  fit- 
ted for  the  large  places  of  industry;  those  of  lesser 
endowment  will  take  their  places  according  to 
their  several  abilities;  but  all  will  have  become 
more  useful  and  in  harmony  with  the  develop- 
ments of  this  age.  It  is  at  this  point  that  the 
two  great  branches  of  educational  activity  are 
formed.  The  one  does  not  recognize  the  element 
of  progress  as  the  cause  and  does  not  seek  the 
remedy  in  an  advanced  and  higher  type  of  ed- 
ucation. The  other  recognizes  the  element  of 
progress  as  the  cause  and  supplies  the  need  by 
an  education  that  will  force  all  classes  of  indi- 
viduals toward  the  most  advanced  type. 

The  vital  difference  between  the  two  lines  of 
effort  is  not  that  one  thinks  any  more  or  less  of 
our  system  of  public  education  as  at  present  op- 
erated, but  rather  that  the  former  would  supply 
the  need  by  taking  certain  individuals  and  at- 
tempting to  fit  them  by  giving  certain  informa- 
tion and  reactions  to  special  details  of  industry, 
while  the  latter  wTould  develop  all  towards  the 
type  and  depend  upon  environment  and  capacity 
to  place  each  individual  in  the  most  suitable  kind 
of  employment.  Much  of  the  lack  of  employment 
that  usually  prevails  is  due  to  the  inability  of  in- 
dividuals to  adapt  themselves  to  opportunities. 
By  emphasizing  special  courses  and  special  schools 
we  are  likely  only  to  aggravate  the  difficulty. 


114  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 


What   Material   to  Use 

When  we  clearly  recognize  this  distinction  we 
can  have  no  doubt  as  to  which  plan  of  procedure 
should  be  followed  by  the  public  schools  of  a 
democratic  country.  It  then  becomes  only  a 
question  of  what  material  to  use  as  a  part  of  our 
school  course  to  produce  this  result.  This  brings 
us  again  to  our  principles  of  selection  and  we 
proceed  to  inquire  what  have  been  the  chief  ele- 
ments of  progress.  This  may  be  answered  by  a 
consensus  of  opinions,  by  a  study  of  present  civ- 
ilization, or  by  a  careful  search  of  the  advanced 
type  form.  I  believe  that  either  method  will  yield 
the  same  result — that  by  any  fair  means  of  inquiry 
we  must  find  the  great  advance  of  today  in  the 
power  of  man  over  solid  materials.  This  is  not 
in  his  power  to  pile  up  pyramids,  or  to  wear  away 
his  life  in  carving  a  minute  image,  but  rather  in 
his  power  to  deal  with  and  shape  solid  materials 
by  the  direction  of  his  intellect  rather  than  by 
muscle.  It  is  not  that  his  arms  are  any  stronger 
than  those  of  the  workman  of  past  ages,  for  they 
are  not.  It  is  rather  that  his  mind  is  taking  the 
place  of  muscle  and  that  his  scientific  knowledge 
of  the  working  of  solid  materials  gives  power  infi- 
nitely beyond  that  which  has  ever  been  possible 
by  the  strongest  arm  or  the  mcst  skilful  hand. 


IN  EDUCATION  115 

In  brief:  This  advance  is  in  the  displacing  of 
muscle  by  mind  and  the  displacing  of  skill  by 
science  in  shaping  solid  materials  to  serve  the 
purposes  of  man. 

This  advance,  then,  has  given  us  another  science 
which  should  form  a  part  of  the  subject  matter 
for  our  schools.  By  use  of  this  subject  matter 
we  may  force  the  development  of  the  desired 
type  of  individual.  We  then  have  no  revolution 
in  education  to  be  brot  about,  no  patching  on 
of  "fads  and  frills",  no  cleavage  in  our  system 
of  public  schools,  no  changes  in  our  general  plan 
of  courses, —  only  the  adding  of  another  science 
with  its  laboratories  and  its  teachers  and  the 
usual  re-adjustments  that  must  follow  the  taking 
on  of  a  recently  developed  subject.  This  subject 
takes  no  special  place,  asks  no  special  favors, 
except  such  as  may  be  accorded  because  of  its 
exceptional  value.  It  has  a  special  and  funda- 
mental reason  for  its  existence  in  the  school  in 
its  necessity  as  a  part  of  the  material  with  which 
the  mind  must  deal  in  order  to  reach  the  ad- 
vanced development  necessary  in  modern  indus- 
try. It  also  has  the  claim  of  being  the  latest 
development  of  the  race,  and  therefore,  from  our 
definition,  it  may  claim  a  very  essential  pait  of 
a  liberal  education.  It  gives  us  as  a  result  of 
our  inquiry  what  was  well  understood  by  the 
founders  of  the  manual  training  movement, 


116  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

that  is,  that  the  best  liberal  education  and  the 
best  industrial  education  are  one  and  the  same. 
It  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  claim  that  Dr.  Bel- 
field  realized  the  full  significance  of  the  statement, 
"The  Chicago  Manual  Training  School  was  found- 
ed to  train  the  mind  by  the  use  of  the  hands." 
Every  movement  must  be  subject  to  growth. 
Those  who  have  studied  thoroly  the  work  of  that 
school  cannot  doubt  but  that  the  germ  of  that 
idea  was  present  from  the  first  inception  of  the 
school.  Those  who  had  the  privilege  of  associa- 
tion with  Dr.  Belfield  as  had  the  writer,  can 
have  no  doubt  of  his  belief  in  this  ideal  thruout 
his  connection  with  the  school.  His  tenacious 
holding  to  this  ideal  against  most  active  opposi- 
tion after  the  school  was  connected  with  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago,  is  fairly  good  evidence  that 
it  was  a  fundamental  principle  in  his  ideals  of 
"shop  work"  in  school. 

The    Mistakes   of   Friends 

Then  why  has  not  the  work  developed  along 
this  line?  Why  do  we  see  two  such  radically  dif- 
fering branches  developing  from  the  same  trunk? 

The  fate  of  the  manual  training  movement 
has  been  the  common  fate  of  many  good  ideas. 
When  Dr.  Woodward  in  the  early  fight  for  man- 
ual training  prayed  that  the  movement  might  be 


IN  EDUCATION  117 

delivered  from  the  mistakes  of  its  friends,  he  no 
doubt  saw  with  a  clear  vision  what  was  to  occur. 
It  was  so  easy  to  see  the  smoke  from  the  great 
chimney,  so  easy  to  see  the  tools  and  machinery, 
so  easy  to  hear  the  saws  and  the  ring  of  the 
anvils;  but  so  hard  to  grasp  the  spirit  of  a 
movement  which  was  based  on  such  a  high  ideal 
and  dealt  with  subject-matter  so  recently  develop- 
ed and  entirely  outside  the  experiences  of  the  av- 
erage individual. 

More  than  one  great  individual  visited  the 
school  and  caught  some  of  the  enthusiasm  and 
much  of  the  form,  but  none  of  the  ideal,  and  re- 
turned to  his  own  city  to  establish  a  school  in 
which  to  build  a  big  chimney  and  make  lots  of 
noise,  but  without  either  the  ideals  or  the  spirit 
of  "training  the  mind  thru  the  hands." 

Handwork   Instead  of  Science 

It  was  a  line  of  work  subject  to  many  changes 
while  keeping  some  of  the  physical  forms,  and 
soon  "handwork"  became  the  cry  from  Boston 
to  San  Francisco.  The  fact  that  this  work  came 
into  existence  to  utilize  a  line  of  subject-matter 
that  is  the  result  of  the  latest  advance  in  civili- 
zation was  entirely  overlooked.  Instead,  any- 
thing that  could  call  the  hands  into  use  was  drawn 
upon  to  furnish  the  desired  variety  of  "occupa- 


118  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

tions."  Altho  to  the  well-intending  enthusiasts 
the  work  seemed  to  be  the  same  or  a  little  bet- 
ter than  that  of  the  Chicago  school,  it  missed 
entirely  the  subject-matter  which  should  have 
been  taught. 

Almost  at  the  first  we  see  the  importation  of 
teachers  and  ideals  from  a  country  that  knew 
substantially  nothing  of  modern  industry.  We 
were  soon  treated  to  the  peculiar  spectacle  of 
seeing  this  imported  and  utterly  un-American  and 
anti-modern  system  of  handwork  which  possessed 
none  of  the  real  subject-matter,  eulogized  by 
our  great  American  educators  who  should  have 
known  better. 

With  such  an  introduction  is  it  any  wonder 
that  all  that  represented  the  later  developments 
of  modern  civilization  in  the  working  of  solid 
materials  was  driven  out  of  our  school  shop 
work  and  even  the  original  ideal  forgotten  by 
many?  With  such  an  abandonment  of  the  very 
fundamental .  principles  on  which  the  work  was 
founded,  is  it  any  wonder  that  chaos  should 
reign  in  the  school  shops  of  the  country  and 
that  the  products  of  these  shops  should  not 
make  good  in  modern  American  industry?  Is 
it  any  wonder  that  while  recognizing  the  failure 
of  the  "handwork"  to  make  good  educationally, 
those  controlling  the  situation  should  bring  into 
the  school  shops  all  sorts  of  extraneous  matter 


IN    EDUCATION  119 

in  their  blind  attempts  to  gain  the  results  that 
all  intuitively  feel  should  result  from  the  work- 
ing of  solid  materials? 

A  Constant  Shifting 

With  an  utter  oversight  of  the  subject  matter 
of  the  school  shop,  because  they  have  absolute- 
ly no  knowledge  of  it,  we  see  teachers  of  "hand- 
work" shifting  from  kites  to  engines,  from  doll 
houses  to  full-size  buildings,  only  to  meet  the 
same  dissatisfaction  with  results  after  their  work 
has  been  in  operation  long  enuf  to  permit  modern 
industry  to  place  its  stamp  "No  Good"  upon  it. 
It  is  a  constant  and  mad  rush  for  something 
that  can  be  patched  on  to  an  antiquated  ideal 
of  education ;  a  persistent  determination  to  worship 
the  past  ideal  and  intellectual  attainments  rather 
than  to  receive  the  newer  and  stronger  as  the 
basis  for  a  liberal  education.  With  no  possible 
middle  ground  this  conflict  must  go  on  until 
the  stronger  wins,  unless  in  our  educational  life 
we  do  as  our  educators  advise  others  to  do  and 
submit  the  question  to  arbitration. 

The   Remedy 

If  we  are  agreed  thus  far  in  our  consideration 
of  the  question,  what  is  a  liberal  education,  we 


120  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

should  have  no  serious  difficulty  in  finding  a  sure 
remedy  for  our  educational  ills. 

First  of  all,  let  us  be  far  more  particular  in 
judging  of  the  work  at  present  given.  Let  us 
be  very  careful  to  determine  just  how  much 
benefit  each  pupil  receives,  and  to  what  definite 
part  of  the  work  the  benefit  should  be  credited. 

If  a  school  gives  a  course  in  manual  training 
and  some  of  the  pupils  go  out  into  some  in- 
dustrial line  and  make  good,  do  not  jump  at  the 
conclusion  that  it  is  a  result  of  the  manual 
training  instruction,  for  many  boys  have  made 
good  most  remarkably  who  have  had  no  such 
manual  training  experience.  The  same  will  apply 
to  an  investigation  of  trade  or  technical  schools. 
Let  us  also  not  overlook  the  failures;  "count 
your  failures"  is  a  saying  of  one  of  our  greatest 
educators. 

Also,  be  sure  to  study  carefully  the  pupil  who 
leaves  school  and  makes  good  in  a  line  entirely 
different  from  the  one  for  which  he  prepared  while 
in  school.  Above  all  else,  we  must  know  what 
this  pupil  got  from  his  school  course,  or  what  he 
possessed  by  nature  that  survived  the  school  course 
that  has  given  him  success.  Some  interesting 
and  valuable  records  have  been  gathered  show- 
ing that  some  pupils  go  out  from  special  classes 
into  occupations  differing  materially  from  those  for 
which  they  were  fitted  by  their  special  work. 


IN  EDUCATION  121 


A  Childish  Argument 

With  these  facts  in  view  there  can  be  no  more 
childish  argument  advanced  in  support  of  our 
present  system  of  education  or  of  any  trade 
school,  or  special  school  of  any  kind,  than  to  call 
attention  to  the  successful  life  work  of  certain 
individuals.  The  requirements  for  admission  to 
some  schools  are  such  that  few  if  any  boys  are 
admitted  who  would  not  likely  have  made  good 
in  almost  any  line  of  industry  had  they  gone  di- 
rectly into  industry,  omitting  entirely  the  school 
work  that  is  now  given  credit  for  their  success. 
Any  of  these  people  who  have  completed  manual 
training  or  trade  courses  can  be  matched  by 
those  who  have  been  in  school  little  or  none  at 
all,  and  therefore  unless  we  can  show  that  these 
successful  individuals  owe  their  success  to  the 
schools,  we  have  nothing  with  which  to  refute 
the  statements  that  they  were  simply  strong 
enuf  to  succeed  in  spite  of  time  wasted  in  school. 

The  test  of  educational  efforts  is  not  the 
successes  of  a  few  selected  individuals  but  the 
amount  of  advance  produced  on  all  those  who 
attend  school.  Unless  it  can  be  shown  that  there 
is  a  general  advance  all  along  the  line  of  the 
various  types  and  capacities  of  pupils  then  the 
school  is  a  failure,  no  matter  to  what  eminence 


122  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

certain  individuals  may  attain.  In  fact,  I  do  not 
claim  that  they  are;  but  if  our  public  schools  are 
organized  for  the  purpose  of  starring  certain  indi- 
viduals to  the  neglect  of  the  masses,  they  are  not 
only  failures,  but  utterly  unworthy  the  considera- 
tion of  a  democratic  people,  and  those  who  are 
intentionally  organizing  them  for  this  purpose,  if 
there  le  such,  are  traitors  to  our  government 
and  the  ideals  of  our  people. 

Educate   All   Pupils 

The  remedy  lies,  therefore,  not  in  attempt- 
ing to  segregate  a  few  individuals  to  be  trained 
for  exhibition  purposes  but  rather  in  searching 
out  such  subject  matter  as  will  lift  the  entire 
student  body  to  higher  planes  of  life  and  social 
efficiency  and  using  it  for  the  benefit  of  all 
classes  of  pupils.  We  should  attempt  by  the 
artificial  means  known  as  public  education  to 
advance  the  entire  rising  generation  toward  the 
standard  set  by  the  type  individuals  that  lead 
the  advance  of  the  race. 

When  we  have  thus  secured  the  proper  subject 
matter  then  we  should  actually  test  it  out.  We 
should  not  be  satisfied  with  some  nominal  tryout 
that  omits  everything  but  the  mere  form,  as  we 
have  been  in  our  attempts  to  determine  the 
efficiency  of  manual  training,  but  rather  make 


IN  EDUCATION  123 

such  a  test  as  will  actually  show  the  values  of 
each  element  as  measured  by  the  needs  of 
society  a§  it  is  constituted  at  the  present 
time. 

Harmful  Studies 

In  making  these  tests  we  should  not  overlook 
the  possibility  that  some  subjects  of  study  may 
be  harmful.  If  our  definition  of  a  liberal  edu- 
cation is  correct,  if  the  call  of  industry  is  for 
a  higher  type  of  mind,  then  we  must  be  ex- 
tremely careful  lest  we  compel  our  students  to 
study  that  which  tends  to  develop  a  type  of 
mind  unsuited  to  modern  needs.  The  writer's 
experience  with  certain  schooled  individuals  causes 
him  to  urge  a  most  careful  investigation  of  this 
feature  of  the  problem.  He  is  so  fully  convinced 
that  our  educators  as  a  class  wish  for  the  best 
as  to  feel  that  the  chief  factor  in  determining  a 
remedy  is  to  determine  what  subjects  and  meth- 
ods tend  to  supply  the  mental  equipment  desired 
and  what  are  of  neutral  or  negative  character. 

If  such  an  inquiry  is  made,  with  our  defini- 
tion of  a  liberal  education  to  indicate  the  sub- 
jects to  be  most  carefully  scrutinized,  the  rem- 
edy for  our  industrial  needs  will  appear  so  con- 
spicuously that  no  one  will  dare  to  stand  in  its 
way. 


124  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 


Such  Work   Does   Succeed 

This  is  not  the  time  to  discuss  a  Mechanical 
Science  course,  yet  this  article  would  be  incom- 
plete without  stating  that  the  conclusions  drawn 
in  regard  to  the  requirements  of  a  practical  ed- 
ucation are  backed  by  sufficient  actual  demon- 
strations as  to  leave  no  doubt  in  regard  to  the 
proper  course  to  pursue. 

To  claim  today  that  the  regular  schools  can- 
not give  a  line  of  shop  work  that  is  all  that  can 
be  desired  in  fitting  boys  and  girls  for  active 
industrial  occupations  is  to  admit  one's  ignorance 
of  what  is  actually  being  accomplished.  The  fact 
that  some  of  the  most  conspicuous  public  school 
systems  are  doing  the  most  extremely  useless  and 
even  injurious  work  in  their  attempts  to  teach 
"handwork"  is  not  a  sufficient  excuse  for  ignoring 
the  good  work  that  is  being  accomplished  else- 
where. It  is  a  question  as  to  whether  our  school 
work  is  to  have  the  same  definite  and  uncom- 
promising tests  as  would  be  given  to  a  modern 
business  enterprise.  To  use  a  common  phrase, 
Are  we  to  have  "scientific  management"  in  our 
schools  or  are  we  to  strive  in  a  general  way  for 
the  best  with  a  set  determination  that  certain 
theories  and  policies  are  to  remain,  regardless  of 
their  injury  to  progressive  education? 


IN    EDUCATION  125 


The  following  is  a  reprint  of  an  address  by 
Mr.  Selden  as  published  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
National  Education  Association  of  1914.  This 
address  is  used  because  it  calls  attention  to  the 
one  most  serious  difficulty  in  the  advancement 
of  public  education.  This  difficulty  results  from 
the  tendency  of  those  now  in  control  to  interpret 
attempts  at  improvement  in  terms  in  harmony 
with  the  established  order.  It  is  very  difficult 
for  those  who  have  been  long  in  public  school 
work  to  see  the  advantages  of  the  new  in  terms 
of  the  changed  social  conditions  that  have  become 
general  since  these  eminent  educators  became 
static  in  their  work. 


Problems  in  the  Successful 
Teaching  of  Mechanical  Science 


Briefly  stated,  the  difficulties  of  introducing 
mechanical  science  courses  are  the  same  as  those 
attending  the  introduction  of  any  improvement. 
It  is  the  tendency  of  the  established  order  to 
interpret  the  improvement  in  terms  in  harmony 
with  itself  and  to  make  it  in  reality  nothing  but 
a  changed  form  of  something  in  the  old  order, 
and  then,  after  having  taken  all  the  newness  out 
of  it,  to  discard  it  as  being  no  improvement  and 
of  no  value.  In  tracing  the  school  shop  move- 
ment, we  learn  that  this  is  exactly  what  has  been 
done  and  that  we  are  now  in  yet  another  stage- 
that  of  attempting  to  find  some  new  material  af- 
ter the  original  movement  has  been  rendered 
abortive  and  set  aside.  To  state  the  principle  con- 
cretely, the  school-shop  movement  has  been  rob- 
bed of  its  vitality,  and  now  attempts  are  being 
made  to  gain  the  values  that  should  have  resulted 
from  the  original  movement  by  the  establishment 
of  all  sorts  of  trade,  continuation,  vocational,  and 
similar  schools.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  name 


128  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

any  specific  remedy  for  the  present  condition,  but 
rather  to  point  a  sure  method  that  will  lead,  not 
only  to  finding  the  remedy,  but  also  to  a  certain- 
ty of  its  being  applied. 

I  believe  you  will  not  object  to  the  ideas  I  ad- 
vance simply  because  they  are  new,  or  because, 
from  a  superficial  consideration,  they  may  appear 
to  be  the  same  as  have  been  considered  in  times 
past.  Nor  will  you  give  them  less  attention  be- 
cause they  appear  to  be  at  variance  with  the  doc- 
trines of  some  of  our  most  esteemed  leaders  of 
educational  thot. 

I  can  do  no  more  than  suggest  some  plan  of 
action  that  will  lead  to  the  determining  of  what 
is  best;  for  the  duty  of  bringing  the  best  out  of 
these  conditions  rests  upon  the  administrative 
part  of  the  educational  machinery.  However  much 
we  may  wish  to  shift  some  of  this  responsibility 
to  superintendent  or  teacher,  yet  in  the  final 
analysis  the  board  is  responsible.  Many  a  super- 
intendent would  do  more  effective  work  if  he 
thot  his  board  members  were  so  thoroly  inform- 
ed of  what  was  being  done  that  they  were  definitely 
in  sympathy  with  his  work.  Many  teachers  would 
work  harder  and  get  far  better  results  did  they 
know  that  the  details  of  improvement  were  known 
and  appreciated  by  those  in  authority.  When,  by 
such  a  searching  inquiry  as  I  suggest,  the  admin- 
istrative factor  is  thoroly  informed,  there  can  be 


IN  EDUCATION  129 

no  doubt  as  to  what  action  will  be  taken,  for  the 
great  majority  wish  our  schools  to  yield  the 
largest  possible  returns  in  good  to  all.  Last,  but 
not  least,  the  whole  educational  machinery  would 
run  smoother  and  accomplish  far  more  if  every 
unit  felt  that  there  was  such  a  definite  knowledge 
of  what  was  being  done  that  there  would  be  no 
mistakes  in  rewarding  the  efficient  and  in  elimina- 
ting the  inefficient. 

It  has  been  my  opinion  for  some  time  that  the 
most  urgent  need  in  solving  the  present  problems 
in  education  is  a  more  extensive  study  of  these 
problems  on  the  part  of  school-board  members. 
As  I  have  listened  to  the  many  eloquent  address- 
es at  this  meeting,  this  need  has  been  greatly  em- 
phasized, and  I  have  been  compelled  to  add  to  the 
list  of  serious  difficulties  that  of  the  great  power 
of  the  highly  trained  intellect  to  enforce  with 
great  appearance  of  wisdom  the  most  ill-advised 
theories  in  regard  to  the  school-shop  movement. 
This  appears  to  result,  not  from  any  lack  of  desire 
to  say  and  do  that  which  is  best,  but  rather  from 
the  difficulty  of  getting  a  proper  grasp  of  a  move- 
ment that  is  based  upon  subject-matter  with  which 
these  people  had  no  experience  as  they  passed 
thru  their  school  work. 

To  gather  the  necessary  information  on  which 
to  base  judgments  is  not  easy.  May  I  encourage 
you  to  take  up  this  important  task  with  a  con  vie- 


130  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

tion  that  nothing  but  first-hand  facts  are  to  be 
used  by  those  in  administrative  positions.  May  I 
also  suggest  that  there  is  sometimes  a  vast  differ- 
ence in  the  conclusions  that  are  drawn  from  casual 
observation  and  from  the  searching  inquiry.  We 
have  in  our  administration  of  schools  too  many 
judgments  formed  upon  casual  observation  and 
hearsay  testimony.  We  see  men  in  these  positions 
deciding  important  questions  on  information  of  a 
kind  that  would  be  given  no  weight  whatever  in 
determining  their  business  activities. 

Probably  the  most  common  error  in  judging  of 
any  part  of  school  work  is  the  neglect  to  consider 
the  personal  factor.  We  should  not  consider  what 
the  pupil  is  on  leaving  school,  but  rather  to  what 
extent  and  in  what  manner  the  school  has  worked 
a  change.  This  is  especially  true  in  determining 
the  school  value  of  any  mechanical  or  industrial 
work.  We  need  to  make  a  close  inspection 
to  determine  how  many  pupils  are  helped  by 
the  school  shop  and  how  many  simply  survive 
it.  To  know  that  certain  boys  go  out  from  the 
school  shop  into  industry  and  succeed  is  of  no 
consequence  whatever  in  determining  the  value 
of  the  shop  work ;  because  there  are  in  every  com- 
munity boys  who  will  succeed  in  spite  of  bad 
schooling.  That  which  must  be  determined  is  the 
actual  effect  of  the  work  by  tracing  the  various 
pupils  thru  the  school  and  out  into  industry.  As 


IN  EDUCATION  131 

has  been  said,  we  must  count  the  failures,  we 
must  determine  the  number  who  have  been  helped 
and  also  those  who  have  fallen  out  by  the  way, 
and  then  we  must  determine  whether  in  any  school 
or  by  any  system  of  work  these  failure*  could 
have  been  avoided  or  to  any  extent  lessened. 
It  is  "dead  easy"  for  a  teacher  to  point  to  a  few 
successes  and  then  lay  the  blame  for  the  failures 
to  the  lack  of  ability  on  the  part  of  those  who 
fail.  In  any  American  community  there  are  both 
boys  and  girls  who  can  do  most  excellent  work 
in  wood  and  metal  if  provided  with  tools,  materials, 
and  a  place  in  which  to  work.  Therefore  if  the 
teacher  can  point  only  to  some  nicely  finished 
projects  as  the  result  of  his  work  it  is  quite 
possible  that  the  money  spent  for  that  teacher 
has  been  wasted.  The  pupils  who  have  not 
achieved  success,  those  whose  work  usually  is 
not  shown,  are  the  ones  whose  records  should  be 
most  thoroly  scrutinized.  It  is  the  special  duty 
of  the  administrative  part  of  education  to  deter- 
mine with  certainty  whether  these  failures  are 
due  to  the  pupil  or  to  the  mistakes  of  the  ad- 
ministration in  selecting  an  incompetent  teacher 
or  an  incompetent  superintendent  who  is  not 
getting  the  best  out  of  the  teacher. 

From  a  somewhat  extensive  study  of  this 
particular  question  in  regard  to  shop  work,  I  can 
say  that  with  pupils  of  similar  talents  attending 


132  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

various  schools  the  proportion  of  failures  to  suc- 
cesses varies  from  nearly  all  failures  in  some  schools 
to  nearly  all  successes  in  other  schools.  This 
means  that  the  administrative  part  of  the  educa- 
tional machine  is  badly  out  of  repair  in  some 
cities;  it  means  that  those  in  authority  are  being 
satisfied  with  results  far  below  what  should  be 
gained.  And  I  may  add  that  I  have  sometimes 
found  those  who  are  the  most  deserving  of  censure 
to  be  those  who  are  most  outspoken  in  their  cer- 
tainty that  their  shop  work  is  of  the  best. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  pupil  of  limited  talent 
is  the  very  one  who  needs  help,  and,  however 
limited  his  talent,  if  he  is  above  idiocy,  the 
greater  is  the  necessity  of  raising  his  level  of  in- 
dustrial efficiency,  for  he  is  certain  to  join  the 
ranks  of  industry,  while  the  one  of  large  con- 
structive talent,  tho  making  a  record  in  the  school 
shop  and  helping  out  on  exhibition  day,  is  almost 
certain  to  enter  some  other  line.  For  the  con- 
structive faculty  that  may  shine  in  industry  is 
the  same  as  that  which  makes  the  great  business 
man  and  the  great  professional  man. 

Now  why  this  great  difference?  For  neither 
the  efficient  nor  the  inefficient  teaching  is  confined 
to  any  particular  class  or  type  of  schools  or  to 
any  particular  geographical  area.  I  think  you 
will  find,  if  you  investigate  with  proper  care  and 
thoroness,  that  it  largely  depends  upon  whether  we 


IN    EDUCATION  183 

teach  principles  or  processes.  It  matters  little 
by  what  name  the  work  is  called  or  in  what  kind 
of  school  it  is  given.  You  will  find  many  grada- 
tions from  the  all-process  to  the  largely-science 
teaching  in  schools  of  all  grades,  and  sometimes 
great  variations  in  the  same  school  system,  even 
in  the  same  building.  I  have  seen  excellent  in- 
struction in  science  in  the  common  graded  schools 
and  the  merest  sham  at  teaching  processes  in 
keeping  with  the  methods  of  bygone  ages  in  na- 
tionally known  trade  and  industrial  schools.  This 
could  not  be  were  the  administratois  actually 
performing  their  full  duty. 

The  fundamental  principles  of  working  solid 
materials  may  be  taught  successfully  aud  thoroly 
by  the  use  of  wood  alone  in  the  one-room  country 
school,  in  the  consolidated  school,  in  the  regular 
high  school,  and  in  the  technical  school.  On  the 
other  hand,  pupils  may  spend  long  hours  in  the 
making  of  things  from  toy  doll  houses  to  real 
dwellings,  from  the  useless  sloyd  models  to  sets  of 
furniture;  they  may  work  every  material  from 
plasticine  to  steel,  and  yet  thru  all  this  extensive 
course  in  either  common  or  special  schools  they 
may  not  learn  one  single  principle  of  working  solid 
materials.  They  then  go  out  into  industry  with 
the  ideals  and  mental  equipment  of  the  ancient 
Egyptian  craftsman  rather  than  with  those  of  the 
modern  scientific  workman.  It  therefore  is  riot 


134  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

safe  to  judge  of  the  work  of  any  school  by  the 
magnitude  of  the  institution,  the  extent  of  the 
equipment,  or  the  credentials  of  the  instructors  or 
even  those  of  the  principal. 

The  cause  of  all  this  interminable  discussion, 
this  ever-increasing  demand  for  efficient  workmen, 
lies  not  in  the  fact  that  young  men  as  they  enter 
industry  cannot  make  things  and  make  them  so 
they  will  be  salable  at  some  price,  but  rather  in 
that  these  young  people  have  been  trained  to  be 
craftsmen  rather  than  modern  scientific  workmen, 
and  therefore  are  unadaptable,  incapable  of  grasp- 
ing modern  ideals  of  workmanship,  and  cannot 
produce  work  on  a  profitable  basis.  How  may  we 
expect  to  remedy  this  condition  unless  those  in 
authority  have  a  sufficiently  definite  knowledge 
of  what  is  being  done  to  distinguish  between  the 
craftsmanship  of  bygone  days  and  modern  scien- 
tific workmanship? 

We  may  build  industrial,  special,  continuation, 
or  what-not  kinds  of  schools  until  we  have  du- 
plicated our  present  system,  and  we  shall  yet  be 
as  far  from  solving  this  question  of  efficiency  as 
we  now  are,  except  in  so  far  as  we  teach  in  those 
schools  the  science  of  working  solid  materials 
rather  than  the  processes. 

What  then  are  we  to  do?  Simply  get  right 
down  to  a  thoro  study  of  the  problem  from  this 
standpoint  and  determine  what  is  essential  to  the 


IN  EDUCATION  135 

teaching  of  the  science  and  also  determine  what 
forms  of  work  lend  themselves  to  the  illumination 
of  the  study  of  this  science.  There  should  not  be 
the  least  objection  raised  by  anyone  to  such  an  in- 
quiry, altho  there  are  many  reasons  for  objecting 
to  a  superficial  or  partial  investigation.  For  one 
not  an  expert  in  this  line  to  make  a  proper  study 
of  the  shopwork  of  any  school  will  require  consid- 
erable time;  and  it  will  be  found  far  better  to  visit 
a  few  schools  and  come  away  with  the  actual  know- 
ledge of  what  is  being  accomplished  than  to  rush 
thru  many  schools  and  form  erroneous  conclusions, 
which  I  know  to  have  often  been  the  case. 

We  must  not  go  into  this  study  with  our  heads 
set  in  favor  of  some  special  method  or  model  and 
dead  set  against  some  other.  There  is  no  question 
but  that  the  set  of  models  usually  thot  of  as  repre- 
senting the  Russian  system  was  originally  used  to 
teach  tool  processes  to  the  entire  neglect  of  the 
science.  Yet  some  of  those  models  have  been  used 
with  great  success  in  teaching  the  science. 

Permit  me  to  make  a  few  suggestions  in  regard 
to  what  constitutes  authority  in  an  investigation 
of  school-shop  work.  If  one  wishes  information  in 
regard  to  teaching  Greek,  he  goes  to  one  who  both 
knows  Greek  and  knows  how  to  teach  it.  If  one 
wishes  to  know  how  to  teach  mathematics,  he  goes 
to  one  who  both  knows  mathematics  and  knows 
how  to  teach  that  subject.  Then  may  I  ask  you, 


136  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

as  you  pursue  your  investigation  of  school-shop 
work,  to  take  with  great  caution  the  advice  of 
those  who  neither  know  the  subject-matter  of 
school-shop  work  nor  have  shown  any  evidence 
of  being  able  to  teach  even  the  most  elementary 
lessons  in  this  work. 

I  care  not  who  they  are  nor  how  eminent  are 
their  positions  as  educators,  if  they  wish  to  estab- 
lish their  ideas  in  regard  to  teaching  this  subject 
we  must  ask  them  to  prove  by  some  means  that 
they  have  the  requisite  material  from  which  to 
formulate  such  theories;  and,  when  they  wish  us 
to  accept  their  theories  in  refutation  of  demon- 
strated success  by  those  actually  engaged  in  this 
work,  I  caution  you  to  hesitate  before  permitting 
the  assumption  of  authority  to  override  actual  dem- 
onstrations. It  is  at  this  very  point  that  most  of 
our  troubles  entered.  Trace  the  early  work,  and 
we  will  find  that  it  is  largely  because  of  accepting 
the  advice  of  those  not  familiar  with  the  school- 
shop  movement  that  the  work  lost  its  value,  and 
we  are  by  no  means  away  from  this  same  difficulty. 

Today  we  hear  much  said  about  educational 
shop  work  in  our  regular  public  schools  under  the 
name  of  manual  training,  manual  arts,  and  simi- 
lar appellations.  Usually  the  advocates  of  these 
kinds  of  work  claim  for  them  great  educational 
values  and  also  claim  that  they  have  not  and 
ought  not  to  have  any  industrial  value. 


IN  EDUCATION  137 

If  we  trace  the  history  of  this  kind  of  work 
and  these  claims,  we  shall  learn  that  this  work 
is  simply  the  shadow  of  the  real  educational  and 
industrial  shop  work  as  at  first  established,  and 
that  only  after  the  utter  worthlessness  of  this 
shadow  as  a  preparation  for  industry  had  been 
demonstrated  did  its  advocates  crawl  under  cover 
by  claiming  that  it  was  purely  for  educational 
values  and  that  it  should  not  be  expected  to 
yield  industrial  values. 

I,  for  one,  most  seriously  doubt  the  statement 
that  there  is  educational  value  worth  while  in 
such  work.  If  my  experience  counts  for  anything 
at  all,  the  industrial  value  of  school-shop  work 
will  keep  pace  with  the  educational  value,  and 
when  the  industrial  value  ceases  all  values  worth 
the  expense  have  ceased.  To  say  that  the  work 
is  educational  is  to  attempt  to  cover  up  a  failure. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  educational  manual 
training  apart  from  industrial  manual  training. 
The  very  elements  that  are  essential  to  give  edu- 
cational value  are  the  very  foundation  values  of 
industrial  efficiency.  Put  these  values  into  the 
work  and  you  have  the  very  best  possible  indus- 
trial education,  tho  it  may  be  given  in  a  regular 
school.  Omit  them  and  you  have  only  education- 
al bluff  no  matter  by  what  name  the  instruction 
is  called  or  where  it  is  given. 

My   final    message  which  I   wish  to  leave  with 


138  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

you  is  no  longer  to  take  the  word  of  anyone 
in  this  matter  but  to  make  for  yourselves  the 
most  thoro  inquiry  in  regard  to  the  values  of 
the  school-shop  work  as  at  present  given  in  your 
own  schools  and  also  in  other  schools. 


Manual  Training 
Equipment 


There  is  a  great  diversity  in  the  equipments 
now  in  use  and  little  can  be  learned  by  merely 
asking  what  equipment  is  possessed  by  some  school, 
for  a  close  inspection  may  reveal  that  the  equip- 
ment purchased  at  large  expense  and  generally 
reported  as  "the  bast"  is  known  by  those  in  a 
position  to  know  the  facts  to  be  thoroly  unsat- 
isfactory. 

There  may,  however,  be  a  wide  diversity  in 
equipments  because  of  local  conditions.  The  school 
board  that  puts  a  plank  on  brackets  against  the 
side  wall  of  a  schoolroom  and  provides  a  chest 
of  but  a  few  tools  because  the  community  cannot 
do  more,  is  deserving  of  quite  as  much  praise  as 
the  community  of  larger  resources  that  is  able 
and  does  provide  a  complete  equipment.  The 
boards  that  deserve  to  be  censured  are  those  that 
will  not  do  what  they  can  to  provide  for  this 
essential  part  of  school  work,  and  those  who  go  to 
the  other  extreme  of  filling  up  their  rooms  with 


140  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

equipment  selected  because  it  is  expensive  and 
for  the  purpose  of  making  a  show,  exposing  their 
ignorance  and  bad  judgment  rather  than  an  inter- 
est in  the  welfare  of  the  pupils. 

Purpose  of  Equipment 

Manual  training  should  be  in  the  schools  for 
a  definite  purpose  and  every  tool  and  part  of 
equipment  of  any  sort  should  be  selected  with  a 
view  to  carrying  out  that  purpose.  As  we  believe 
that  the  purpose  of  manual  training  in  the  public 
schools  is  to  study  the  science  of  working  solid 
materials  that  the  pupil  may  gain  in  intellectual 
power,  general  intelligence  and  ability  to  make 
good  after  leaving  school,  we  would  select  for 
equipment  only  those  things  that  tend  to  this  end. 

It  is,  therefore,  very  evident  that  serious  mis- 
takes may  be  made  in  the  selection  of  tools.  To 
place  wood  files  in  the  hands  of  beginners  in  wood 
work  will  result  very  much  the  same  as  to  give 
to  the  beginners  in  arithmetic  a  key  to  that  book, 
or  to  give  to  the  student  in  Latin  "a  pony"  for  his 
translation.  Those  who  have  not  made  a  study 
of  the  scientific  principles  of  working  solid  mater- 
ials cannot  realize  the  loss  in  intellectual  growth, 
interest,  and  ability  to  do  a  high  grade  of  work 
that  results  from  the  use  of  such  "pony"  tools  and 
therefore,  we  find  well  intending  school  officials 


IN  EDUCATION  141 

lowering  the  value  of  the  work  by  supplying 
files  and  coping  saws.  No  doubt  teachers  may 
be  greatly  aided  by  the  refusal  of  the  board  to 
permit  the  use  of  such  tools  and  thus  encourage  a 
better  line  of  work.  There  is  really  no  excuse 
for  continuing  the  use  of  such  equipment,  for 
there  are  excellent  texts  to  be  had  that  provide 
an  abundance  of  problems  entirely  freed  from  all 
temptation  to  "pony"  the  work. 

Permanent  Equipment 

No  longer  do  school  boards  need  to  fear  that 
the  equipment  will  soon  be  cast  aside  because 
of  the  "fad"  passing  away.  Neither  do  they  need 
to  fear  any  changes  that  will  render  the  equip- 
ment obsolete,  provided  they  secure  those  things 
that  are  required  for  a  high  grade  of  work.  There 
is  no  doubt  about  the  tendency  at  present  being 
toward  a  higher  grade  of  work,  and  the  use  of 
such  equipment  as  will  make  this  possible.  It  is 
scarcely  possible  that  there  will  ever  be  a  return 
to  the  shabby  work  of  the  past.  Therefore,  if  a 
good  standard  equipment  is  installed  there  will 
not  likely  be  required  any  changes  except  those 
which  occur  from  time  to  time  because  of  im- 
provements in  tools  or  new  inventions.  This 
progress  will  be  slow  and  therefore,  if  the  best 
for  our  purpose  today  is  supplied,  it  will  likely 


142  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

be  thoroly  satisfactory  until  worn  out.  It  appears 
to  be  the  duty  of  those  who  purchase  the  equip- 
ment to  see  that  every  article  is  first  class,  not  nec- 
essarily the  most  expensive,  but  exactly  the  thing 
for  the  use  intended. 

Definite   Specifications 

This  leads  to  the  suggestion  that  the  usual 
custom  of  submitting  lists  to  several  dealers  for 
bids,  altho  the  proper  thing  to  do,  often  fails  to  get 
a  fair  comparison  of  prices,  because  of  indefinite- 
ness  in  the  specifications.  The  writer  recalls  a  case 
that  is  typical  of  many.  Two  leading  firms  in  the 
manual  training  equipment  business  bid  on  a  large 
bill  of  equipment.  The  prices  submitted  totaled 
almost  alike,  one  firm  underbidding  the  other  but 
a  small  amount.  Naturally  the  lower  bidder  got 
the  order. 

On  receiving  the  goods  it  was  discovered  that 
the  bench  brushes,  altho  answering  the  specifica- 
tion, were  worth  about  twenty  cents  each  and  were 
unfit  for  school  use,  while  the  other  firm  would 
have  supplied  a  fifty-cent  brush.  The  difference  in 
value  of  the  brushes  was  about  double  the  difference 
in  the  totals  of  the  two  bids.  We  do  not  advocate 
the  purchase  of  large  equipments  without  getting 
prices  from  various  houses,  but  rather  the  most 
complete  specifications  in  all  cases. 


IN  EDUCATION  143 

We  must  not  leave  this  topic  without  referring 
to  another  type  of  purchasing.  There  is  one  firm 
that  probably  surpasses  all  others  in  its  constant 
advocacy  of  the  purchasing  of  the  ''best."  This 
sounds  all  right,  but  when  we  consider  that  this 
firm's  interpretation  of  the  word  "best"  does  not 
mean  quality,  but  the  most  expensive  styles,  then 
we  take  issue. 

A  certain  school  was  equipped  on  this  plan  by 
this  firm,  their  equipment  costing  some  eight  thous- 
and dollars.  A  judicious  selection  would  have  ob- 
tained a  far  more  useful  equipment  for  four  thous- 
and dollars.  In  fact  much  of  the  equipment  is 
of  such  a  type  that  it  is  in  the  way  rather  than 
helpful.  It  may  justly  be  compared  to  placing  on 
the  desk  of  every  sixth  grade  pupil  an  unabridged 
dictionary.  This  school  is  crippled  permanently 
unless  some  one  comes  to  its  relief  with  sufficient 
grit  to  dispose  of  much  of  the  equipment  and  re- 
place it  with  that  suitable  for  the  school  work. 

Controlling  Factors 

In  the  ordinary  selection  of  an  equipment  two 
factors  govern:  the  grade  for  which  it  is  intend- 
ed, and  the  amount  of  available  funds.  That 
we  may  get  a  basis  on  which  to  work  I  shall  sug- 
gest an  equipment  for  the  fifth,  sixth,  seventh, 
and  eighth  grades,  and  note  such  modifications 


144  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

as  would  ordinarily  be  required  for  a  two 
years'  high  school  course  in  wood  work  for  a 
community  able  to  provide  a  thoroly  satisfactory 
equipment.  With  this  as  a  basis  less  favored 
communities  can  reduce  the  expense  by  limiting 
the  number  of  individual  tools,  etc.  I  will  not 
attempt  to  cover  the  work  of  other  grades  or 
other  subjects.  The  same  principles  apply  to  all 
the  grades  and  all  materials  suitable  for  school 
shop  work. 

The  number  of  pupils  in  a  class  determine8 
the  number  of  benches,  number  of  tools  in  each 
set,  and  also  the  number  of  some  of  the  general 
tools.  For  convenience  we  will  plan  for  grade 
classes  of  twenty  and  high  school  classes  of  the 
same  number,  altho  if  the  room  is  of  sufficient 
size  and  a  good  text  book  used,  thirty  pupils 
can  be  well  cared  for  in  a  high  school  class. 

Benches 

The  first  and  most  expensive  part  of  the  shop 
equipment  is  the  benches.  There  are  two  ways 
of  making  benches,  much  wood  and  little  work 
or  less  wood  and  more  work.  Weight  is  of  im- 
portance but  of  little  value  if  the  joints  are  not 
rigid.  To  successfully  demonstrate  the  principles 
of  mechanical  science  on  unsteady  benches  is 
practically  impossible.  To  purchase  such  benches 


IN  EDUCATION  145 

as  a  matter  of  economy  will  result  in  serious 
waste,  for  the  larger  values  of  the  work  will  not 
be  realized.  Instead  of  that  steady  thotful  use  of 
the  tools  that  is  essential  to  proper  study  you 
will  have  nervous,  jerky  movements  and  the 
study  element  omitted. 

To  make  a  substantial  bench,  a  good  frame- 
work is  necessary.  With  a  good  framework  it  is 
bad  business  to  leave  the  space  under  the  bench 
as  waste  room,  and  go  to  the  expense  of  provid- 
ing cases  of  drawers  at  the  sides  of  the  room. 
Side  cases  have  been  used  to  avoid  stealing  from 
the  bench  drawers,  as  the  cases  were  apart  from 
the  pupils  where  the  teacher  could  watch  them. 

Master  keyed  locks  on  the  drawers  ai»e  of  little 
value  unless  of  a  very  expensive  type,  and  then 
often  unsatisfactory  to  such  an  extent  that  schools 
have  hesitated  to  make  use  of  them.  These  dif- 
ficulties are  now  all  entirely  overcome  by  a  lock- 
ing device  that  makes  thieving  from  drawers 
practically  impossible  and  places  the  locks  under 
the  most  perfect  and  convenient  control. 

There  is,  therefore,  no  longer  excuse  for  the  in- 
convenience and  disorder  resulting  from  keeping 
either  tools  or  materials  apart  from  the  bench. 
See  that  the  framework  and  paneling  actually  tend 
to  strength  and  rigidity.  Benches  for  the  high 
school  should  be  similar  to  those  for  the  grades. 
They  may  be  supplied  with  lathes.  This  saves 


146  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

room  and  for  many  schools  is    the   best   arrange- 
ment, especially  for  second  year  or  advanced  work. 

Vises 

Each  bench  should  be  supplied  with  one  vise 
set  far  enuf  from  the  end  to  avoid  the  temptation 
of  using  it  in  sawing.  Tail  vises  are  not  needed, 
and  besides  being  in  the  way,  will  do  more  harm 
than  good.  No  doubt  the  best  style  of  vise  is  a 
quick  action  iron  vise.  It  should,  however,  have 
a  continuous  screw  and  no  springs  or  other  parts 
gripping  the  thread,  for  the  pulling  and  pushing  of 
the  movable  jaw  requires  too  much  strength  at  the 
best.  Here,  as  in  every  part  of  the  equipment, 
simplicity  should  be  an  important  item.  Tho  a 
mechanic  might  find  it  no  trouble  to  spend  a 
minute  now  and  then  adjusting  or  oiling  a  few  lit- 
tle pieces,  in  the  school  room  five  pieces  to  be 
looked  after  at  each  bench  totals  a  hundred  for 
the  teacher,  who  alone  must  watch  these  things. 
A  few  tools  that  will  not  work  properly,  a  few  vises 
that  occasionally  stick  or  slip,  a  few  benches  that 
are  constantly  becoming  shaky,  a  few  keys  lost  or 
that  won't  unlock  and  no  way  to  open  the  drawers 
or  cases,  a  few  small  pieces  of  work  lost  or  damaged 
because  of  no  safe  place  for  them,  just  a  few  of 
these  little  things  in  each  line  and  an  expensive 
equipment  with  a  competent  teacher  becomes  little 


IN  EDUCATION  147 

more  than  a  waste  of  money  and  time.  The  board 
cannot  be  too  particular  in  seeing  that  everything 
is  simple,  substantial  and  durable.  Good  vises, 
substantial  benches  and  drawers  under  thoro  con- 
trol play  a  very  vital  part  in  this  result. 

Edge   Tools 

For  the  grades  few  edge  tools  are  required  at 
first.  If  a  properly  arranged  course  is  followed 
the  chisels  will  not  be  needed  in  the  first  work 
and  the  pupils  will  advance  to  work  requiring 
them  with  a  continued  interest  not  possible  if 
all  the  tools  are  used  in  the  first  lessons.  As 
these  tools,  including  the  planes,  form  an  impor- 
tant part  of  the  equipment,  insist  on  having  those 
that  bear  the  name  of  some  reputable  manufac- 
turer who  makes  a  specialty  of  these  tools.  In 
planes  choose  the  most  simple  iron  planes  having 
both  screw  and  lateral  adjustments,  with  thin  bits 
that  can  be  readily  rounded. 

Individual  Tools 

Each  pupil  should  have  his  own  edge  tools, 
because  for  different  work  these  tools  are  fitted 
differently,  and  to  teach  the  science  of  using 
them  they  must  be  fitted  exactly  right  for  each 
problem.  Pupils  cannot  be  held  responsible  for 


148  MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

edge  tools  used  in  common  without  consuming 
time  seriously  needed  for  other  work.  A  pupil 
should  become  accustomed  to  the  peculiar  char- 
acteristics of  his  edge  tools,  and  this  is  impossible 
if  they  are  being  changed  by  others.  As  a  matter 
of  economy  individual  tools  will  last  enuf  longer 
to  make  their  use  a  good  business  investment. 
Without  individual  tools  pupils  will  often  be 
using  those  not  in  the  best  condition  and  because 
of  this  fail  to  get  proper  returns  for  their  effort, 
falling  behind  when  it  is  not  their  fault,  or  doing 
poor  work  because  they  thot  they  could  get  along 
with  a  plane  or  chisel  not  in  the  best  condition. 
It  matters  little  whether  they  fall  behind  because 
of  attempting  to  use  a  dull  tool  or  by  taking  time 
to  sharpen  one  dulled  by  another.  In  either 
case  the  keen  enjoyment  of  the  work  is  lessened. 
It  is  the  realization  of  honest  returns  for  honest 
effort  that  gives  the  large  interest  and  value  to  the 
work  and  that  cannot  be  had  if  pupils'  efforts 
are  dissipated  by  the  carelessness  or  neglect  of 
others. 


Note: 

The  original  article,  as  published  in  the 
" American  School  Board  Journal/7  gave  a  com- 
plete list  of  equipment.  As  the  changes  in  con- 


IN    EDUCATION  149 

ditions  from  year  to  year  render  such  lists  of 
value  for  only  a  brief  time  they  are  omitted 
from  this  reprint. 

The  publishers  desire  to  be  helpful  to  all 
those  interested  in  equipping  schools  for  Mech- 
anical Science  work,  and  therefore  will  gladly 
furnish  up-to-date  lists  of  tools  and  other  equip- 
ment on  receipt  of  a  request.  They  should  be 
supplied  with  information  stating  the  number 
of  pupils  to  be  accommodated,  grades  in  which 
the  work  is  to  be  taught,  and  amount  of  funds 
available  for  equipment. 


The  Mechanical  Science  Series 

This  series  of  texts  presents  the  work  of  the 
school  shop  as  a  definite  science  rather  than  as 
tool  processes  or  methods  of  making  things.  The 
entire  course  is  arranged  in  definite  divisions  with 
each  division  arranged  according  to  a  definite  and 
logical  sequence  based  on  the  demonstration  of 
the  fundamental  principles  of  working  solid  ma- 
terials. Altho  this  restricts  the  course  to  very 
definite  portions  of  subject  matter,  yet  this  sub- 
ject matter  may  be  studied  and  the  necessary 
demonstrations  made  by  use  of  a  great  variety  of 
materials  and  projects.  This  variety  is  largely 
provided  for  by  many  suggestions  in  the  texts  con- 
cerning modifications  of  designs,  use  of  different 
woods  and  various  methods  of  finishing. 

The  important  and  especially  interesting  fact 
in  regard  to  the  Mechanical  Science  Series  is 
that  its  proper  use  invariably  yields  results  far 
beyond  that  of  any  other  line  of  school  shopwork. 
It  not  only  results  in  a  greater  interest  and  far 
better  executed  projects,  but  also  yields  a  value 
in  preparing  for  industrial  occupations  that  has 
not  been  approached  by  any  other  system  of  school 
shop  instruction.  For  complete  information  in 
regard  to  these  texts,  address 

The  Maudslay  Press 

VALLEY  CITY,  N.  DAK.       CRANESVILLE,  PENN. 


Woodwork  for  the  Grades 

This  is  the  text  to  be  used  in  beginning  shop- 
work  in  Mechanical  Science  in  whatever  grade  the 
work  is  begun  in  both  grades  and  high  school. 

This  text  contains  a  large  variety  of  material  so 
arranged  as  to  afford  opportunity  for  selecting  ex- 
actly the  right  project  for  each  pupil.  There  is  no 
question  but  that  in  actual  practice  the  use  of  this 
text  leads  to  a  more  perfect  adapting  of  work  to 
individual  pupils7  needs  than  is  possible  with  any 
other  text  or  system  of  instruction.  It  is  a  thoro- 
ly  practical  text  and  pupils  who  complete  the  work 
as  given  show  exceptional  interest  and  ability  in 
doing  work  at  home.  No  other  text  will  compare 
with  this  one  in  giving  power  to  do  work  with  tools 
outside  of  school,  as  records  of  pupils  show,  there- 
by proving  this  to  be  a  text  of  exceptional  value 
in  developing  initiative  and  industrial  efficiency. 

The  Mechanical  Drawings  are  arranged  and 
graded  with  great  care  so  that  the  average  boy  will, 
in  using  the  book,  learn,  without  any  special  effort, 
to  read  drawings.  The  text  contains  many  com- 
plete working  drawings  of  projects  from  simple 
one-piece  projects  to  chairs  and  tables. 

This  is  the  text  that  has  the  enviable  record  of 
always  having  its  pupils  win  first  prize  whenever 
their  work  is  placed  in  competition  with  work  of 
other  systems  and  they  have  been  in  charge  of  a 
competent  instructor. 


Mechanical  Science 
Methods 

This  is  a  text  for  use  in  Normal  Schools;  it  is 
also  a  most  helpful  handbook  for  teachers  using 
the  Mechanical  Science  texts. 

It  gives  in  great  detail  the  exact  methods  to 
be  used  in  presenting  the  Mechanical  Science  work 
basing  the  directions  on  the  first  lessons.  It  is  well 
understood  by  teachers  of  Mechanical  Science  that 
the  first  lessons  are  extremely  important  and  that 
if  they  are  properly  taught,  there  will  be  little 
trouble  about  the  others. 

This  text  is  based  upon  the  experiences  of 
many  teachers  and  is  a  thoroly  practical  and  reli- 
able guide.  It  is  not  only  valuable  for  the  teacher, 
but  is  also  a  most  helpful  book  for  the  principal 
and  superintendent,  as  it  supplies  exact  information 
as  to  how  the  work  should  be  taught.  The  super- 
intendent who  requires  of  his  teacher  the  standard 
and  results  called  for  by  this  text  will  find  his  pa- 
trons highy  pleased  with  the  interest  and  values 
resulting  from  his  school  shop. 

The  Maudslay  Press 

Valley  City,  N.  Dak.  Cranesville,  Penn. 


Elementary  Drawing 

This  text  is  for  use  by  those  who  have  had  no 
previous  instruction  in  drawing.  It  covers  the  first 
essential  elementary  problems  in  great  detail.  The 
instruction  given  is  so  very  complete  that  this  book 
may  be  used  successfully  as  a  home  study  text  or 
in  schools  not  provided  with  a  special  teacher  of 
drawing. 

All  of  the  problems  correlate  very  closely  with 
those  of  the  shop  texts  of  the  Mechanical  Science 
series.  This  is  of  great  assistance  in  both  shopwork 
and  drawing.  The  text  on  drawing  may  be  referred 
to  for  aid  in  understanding  the  shop  drawings  and 
the  drawings  in  the  shop  texts  may  be  referred  to  as 
examples  and  additional  illustrations  of  the  problems 
in  drawing.  The  text  on  drawing  contains  several 
modifications  of  the  problems  given  in  the  shop 
texts.  These  will  be  found  very  helpful. 

This  text  should  be  used  in  whatever  grade  the 
study  of  mechanical  drawing  is  begun.  If  condi- 
tions permit,  the  work  should  begin  in  the  seventh 
grade  with  only  a  very  limited  equipment.  By 
the  time  the  pupil  has  completed  the  eighth  grade 
he  should  be  able  to  read  any  drawing  that  would 
be  given  to  a  boy  in  regular  employment,  and 
should  be  able  to  make  free  hand  sketches  and 
simple  mechanical  drawings. 


MECHANICAL  SCIENCE 

in  the 

RURAL  SCHOOLS 

Altho  Mechanical  Science  has  been  repeatedly 
demonstrated  to  be  the  best  system  of  industrial  in- 
struction for  all  public  schools  it  has  proven  especial- 
ly successful  in  one-room  rural  schools.  There  are 
many  reasons  why  this  should  be  the  case.  First  of 
all  the  Mechanical  Science  work  directs  the  pupils 
to  definite  problems  that  teach  definite  principles. 
Having  a  clear  understanding  of  the  principles, 
they  use  the  processes  with  exceptional  success. 

This  is  the  chief  factor  in  securing  interest  in 
school  and  in  successfully  applying  the  lessons  at 
home.  The  boy  or  girl  who  has  completed  the 
studies  in  planing,  measuring,  and  sawing  as  given 
in  the  Mechanical  Science  texts  will  not  only  be  will- 
ing to  attempt  tasks  at  home  requiring  a  knowledge 
of  these  processes,  but  is  certain  to  accomplish  the 
work  with  thoro  success.  This  will  encourage  them 
to  attempt  larger  tasks  and  also  gain  the  commen- 
dation of  parents  and  yet  larger  opportunities  to 
apply  their  knowlege  of  industrial  work. 

A  " Story  of  a  Rural  School"  is  the  title  of  a 
pamphlet  telling  what  was  actually   accomplished 
in  a  one-room  rural  school.  '  This  pamphlet  is  sent 
free  on  request  to  any  address. 
The  Maudslay  Press,    Valley  City,  N.  Dak. 


The  Mechanical  Science  Series 

Woodwork  for  the  Grades 

This  book  for  beginners  of  all  grades.  $1.00 

Elementary  Woodwork 
A  book  for  first  lessons  in  joinery.  .  $1.00 

Elementary  Cabinetwork 
A  complete  high-school  course.  $1.00 

Elementary  Turning 
By  far  the  best  text  on  wood  turning.          $1.00 

Suggestive  Courses 
A  detailed  outline  for  teachers.  $0.35 

Mechanical  Science  Methods 
Should  be  studied  by  every  teacher.  $0.60 

Wood  Finishing 
A  beginner's  hand  book  for  school  use.         $0.35 

Mechanical  Drawing  (142  pages) 
Correlated  closely  with  shopwork.  $0.75 

Mechanical  Science  in  Education 
A  discussion  of  the  fundamental  principles.  $1.00 

Supplementary  Lessons 

Later  shop  problems.  $0.60 

Rural  Education  In  preparation. 

Elementary  Patternwork  In  preparation. 

Elementary  Farm  Carpentry  In  preparation. 

No  free  copies  are  .given  out.  Examination 
copies  are  billed  postage  prepaid,  subject  to  return 
in  thirty  days,  and  at  fifteen  per  cent  discount. 


UNIVEKSITY  OF  CALIFOENIA  LIBRAKY, 
BERKELEY 

THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

Books  not  returned  on  time  are  subject  to  a  fine  of 
50c  per  volume  after  the  third  day  overdue,  increasing 
to  $1.00  per  volume  after  the  sixth  day.  Books  not  in 
demand  may  be  renewed  if  application  is  made  before 
expiration  of  loan  period. 


50///-7/27 


460199 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


